Garlic Steamed Green Beans

Oh how I love fresh produce!! Sadly, the majority of our fresh produce consists of the same few things - fruits: apples, bananas, grapes and vegetables: lettuce, onion, and carrots. We mix it up every now and then with green pepper, avocados, celery, oranges, broccoli, blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, etc. But rarely do I buy fresh green beans. I don't know why. I adore them. They are so good! I have a history of over-steaming my vegetables but am learning to be more careful and pull them off the heat sooner which is essential. It's amazing how you can take delicious, fresh, perfect produce and absolutely ruin it and turn it to tasteless mush with a minute or two too long of steaming. 

In any event, this is a super simple but delicious way to cook and serve up a side of fresh green beans. Kenneth's mother introduced us to garlic green beans years ago, but used jarred minced garlic along with butter, salt and pepper instead of garlic salt - my son is not a fan of the minced garlic version for some reason but we all love garlic so I tried garlic salt instead and voila! Everyone was very happy with this quick, easy, and delicious version.

Garlic Steamed Green Beans

Ingredients

1 lb fresh green beans

1/2 - 1 tsp garlic salt

2 TBS unsalted butter

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring the water to a boil. Add the green beans, cover the saucepan with a lid, and steam the beans until just tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Drain all water from the pan, then dump the steamed beans into the pan along with the butter and desired amount of garlic salt and pepper (season to taste).
3. Gently toss a few times until butter has melted, and serve warm.