Green Beans and Slimy Frogs.


When I was a little girl one of my fondest memories were spending time with my grandparents.  I guess that is no surprise if you have read a few of my previous posts.  Recently my daughter and I went to a local farmers market.  I visited the vegetable stand that is set up every weekend.  I love being able to support local farmers. We bought several things that day, including green beans.  Now I have had fresh green beans numerous times but I had never made them before.  So to the phone I went and asked my Mom what to do.  Of course you have to snap off the ends before cooking. So I grabbed my daughter and off to the picnic table we went. The first bean I snapped immediately transported me right back to my grandparents yard snapping beans.  I could not help but tear up with the flood of memories that one little bean brought back to me.  I felt like I had a movie playing in my head. It was a happy but also very sad moment.  My daughter was there helping me and asking me questions. I proceeded to tell her about my grandparents and how when I was a little girl I used to do this with them.   We talked about the beans and how yummy they were going to be for dinner that night. Little did I know about what a truely amazing new memory this was going to be.  Of course I heard the why question and what do we do with the ends and so on.  Out of the blue my daughter asks me "are frogs slimy?"  Not realizing why I was being asked this question I told her I guess they are slimy.  She says she never wants to kiss a frog!  She had watched the Princess and the Frog at my sisters that day and she says that Tiana said she would never kiss a frog.  I could not help but smile.  She really thought it was important to share this with me.


She was very excited to show off the beans.



Take the fresh green beans and snap off the ends, place them in a bowl and rinse. Cook diced up onion and country ham pieces in a pan. Add the green beans and cover with water.  Season with salt, pepper and any other seasoning you prefer. I also added a few potatoes.  I did not have new potatoes which would have been really great in this. I just used what I had on hand.  Cook on medium heat until the beans are tender. 


I set out to share a memory with my daughter about my grandparents and in turn we had an in depth conversation between us.  She is a very active little girl and I am a very busy mom so little conversations like that are priceless.  We get so busy with the hustle and bustle of everyday life sometimes you just need to take a breath.  I wanted to share a memory with her and instead we created one.  I was reminded by a 4 year old to slow down and enjoy the little things, even if it was about frogs!

Thanking God for my many blessings.
Served Up With Love!


Fresh Green Beans

A mess of fresh green beans
1-2 oz country ham pieces
1/4 cup chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
potatoes ( cut up whatever you have on hand)

Snap the ends off the beans, saute 1-2 ounces country ham pieces with 1/4 cup chopped onion. Add green beans and water to cover.  Add potatoes if you prefer, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook on medium heat until beans are tender. Sometimes its hard to measure a recipe when you just throw it all in. Please note the measurements are not exact. Enjoy!

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2 comments:

  1. Great story! I used to sit with my grandma and great-grandma and snap beans with them. This is one of my favorite ways to eat green beans.

    It's funny how kids can so quickly move from one topic to the next and leave us saying, "Huh? Where did that come from?"!

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  2. I'll have to have some of these and add the ham and call it Green Beans with Slimy Frogs! I had to read the post to see what was the ingredient to be the "slimy frogs'!!!

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