Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. I love the coming together of family and all the tasty side dishes. When I was a child, my parents hosted Thanksgiving dinner for their closest friends in our converted garage. We didn't just eat turkey and cranberries. We actually dressed up like Pilgrims and Indians.
My mother sewed white aprons and bonnets for all the women to wear and my Dad made black belts and tall black hats for all the men to wear. My sisters and I made headbands with feathers for the children to wear. In addition, we hand-painted scenes of Plymouth Plantation on old cardboard bicycle boxes to decorate the walls of the garage. My parents hand-wrote invitations on parchment scrolls and personally delivered them to our family friends.
For over 15 years, we reenacted this traditional Thanksgiving celebration and as a child it became a much anticipated holiday. I didn't really know my family's way of celebrating turkey day was unusual until a reporter from the San Jose Mercury Newspaper showed up one Thanksgiving. The following Sunday, photographs and a full front page article appeared in the newspaper. My parents and family friends were quite thrilled with all the attention the article received. Thus we continued this tradition until my parents became empty-nesters.
Three decades have past since then. My own children are grown and now I'm facing the empty nest. Instead of hosting Thanksgiving for my own family, I'm busy making two side dishes and will be guest at my neighbor's Thanksgiving. This time last year I was battling cancer. Since then, I've survived surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and a radical transformation of my diet and exercise regimen. Instead of bringing the traditional green bean casserole, with french fried onions and mushroom soup, I'm going to surprise everyone with a healthy recipe for Holiday Green Beans featuring fresh green beans, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, garlic and slivered almonds. Here is the recipe below:
Holiday Green Beans
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 pound of bacon, roughly chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup of fresh tomatoes, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Directions:
Toss the green beans into a large pot of boiling salted water and cook until bright green in color and crisp-tender, about five minutes. Drain the beans and shock in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the beans again and pat dry.
Cook the bacon in a large, heavy saute pan until crisp, about five minutes. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Spoon off the excess bacon grease, leaving two tablespoons in the pan. Add the onion and saute until soft and very tender, about four or five minutes. Add tomatoes and continue to saute a couple of more minutes. Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until just fragrant, about 1 more minute. Add the reserved green beans and cook until heated through, five to six minutes more. Return the bacon to the pan. Pour in the lemon juice, almonds and toss.
Yields: 6 servings.
(Recipe source: Angela Baum, 2013; Photo credits: A. Mascy, 1983; http://www.trialx.org)
My mother sewed white aprons and bonnets for all the women to wear and my Dad made black belts and tall black hats for all the men to wear. My sisters and I made headbands with feathers for the children to wear. In addition, we hand-painted scenes of Plymouth Plantation on old cardboard bicycle boxes to decorate the walls of the garage. My parents hand-wrote invitations on parchment scrolls and personally delivered them to our family friends.
For over 15 years, we reenacted this traditional Thanksgiving celebration and as a child it became a much anticipated holiday. I didn't really know my family's way of celebrating turkey day was unusual until a reporter from the San Jose Mercury Newspaper showed up one Thanksgiving. The following Sunday, photographs and a full front page article appeared in the newspaper. My parents and family friends were quite thrilled with all the attention the article received. Thus we continued this tradition until my parents became empty-nesters.
Three decades have past since then. My own children are grown and now I'm facing the empty nest. Instead of hosting Thanksgiving for my own family, I'm busy making two side dishes and will be guest at my neighbor's Thanksgiving. This time last year I was battling cancer. Since then, I've survived surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and a radical transformation of my diet and exercise regimen. Instead of bringing the traditional green bean casserole, with french fried onions and mushroom soup, I'm going to surprise everyone with a healthy recipe for Holiday Green Beans featuring fresh green beans, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, garlic and slivered almonds. Here is the recipe below:
Holiday Green Beans
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 pound of bacon, roughly chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup of fresh tomatoes, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Directions:
Toss the green beans into a large pot of boiling salted water and cook until bright green in color and crisp-tender, about five minutes. Drain the beans and shock in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the beans again and pat dry.
Cook the bacon in a large, heavy saute pan until crisp, about five minutes. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Spoon off the excess bacon grease, leaving two tablespoons in the pan. Add the onion and saute until soft and very tender, about four or five minutes. Add tomatoes and continue to saute a couple of more minutes. Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until just fragrant, about 1 more minute. Add the reserved green beans and cook until heated through, five to six minutes more. Return the bacon to the pan. Pour in the lemon juice, almonds and toss.
Yields: 6 servings.
(Recipe source: Angela Baum, 2013; Photo credits: A. Mascy, 1983; http://www.trialx.org)
