As I sat down here to post this delicious recipe for green beans, to go along with all the Asian dishes I have been posting all about this week, I realized that the pictures I had for this recipe were some of the ones that got deleted off of my computer. You see, a couple of weeks ago when I was adding some pictures from my Cannon to my folder on the laptop, the box came up for copy/replace, or something like that. I thought to myself, oh, I must have already put these pictures on here, so I just put to copy/replace. Long story short, I copied over and replaced pictures that were stored in there that weren’t the same, and they were lost forever. A lot of them. Good ones, ones that would have been so nice to have since I had already slaved over all of them in the kitchen. Ugh. So frustrating.

I wasn’t even totally sure which ones they were, but I am slowly finding out as I go to post recipes on here. I started to get really upset about these green bean pictures and then I stopped for a second.

They are just pictures. Right? I mean, I am sure that at some point I will make all of these recipes again and maybe the pictures will be a lot better that the ones I lost anyway.

So, it got me thinking about how it was really silly to get upset about it. I mean, no one died, no one is sick, we are happy, my husband has work, there is food in the refrigerator. (There isn’t anyone here to clean my house, which would be super duper cool, but it’s ok.)

Thinking about how thankful I was got me thinking about how Thanksgiving is in two weeks and how many people out there will not have family, money or other resources to have a really great meal on the table. Personally, I have a hard time knowing that.

We are adopting a family, maybe two, this year to make sure that they get to have a great holiday. I challenge you to ask around and see if there is a family that you can find that may need some help this year. Maybe you could spare an extra $15 for a turkey, or make a few extras and take over to their house, or when your at the grocery and they have those meals in a bag that you can purchase for them to donate, buy one! I know that times are hard for everyone, but I guarantee there is always someone worse off than you. It will make you feel so good inside to help someone else and I know you will be blessed in return!

Ok, off the soapbox now.

Here is the only picture I have for you, but I think you can get the idea!

These green beans are perfect as a side dish to any of the Asian inspired recipes from this week. Whether it be the Japanese Udon Noodles, the Asian Beef and Rice, or the Beef and Snow Peas, this would be a great compliment.

Bold Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed (I used about 1 1/2 lbs here)
1 tbsp peanut, grapeseed or olive oil
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 cup almonds, chopped (You could use walnuts or even peanuts if you want)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Add about an inch of water to a large skillet and bring to a boil. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the green beans. Cover and steam for about 5-7 minutes, remove from skillet, drain and set aside.

Add your oil to the skillet and turn on med-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the ginger, garlic, pepper and walnuts. Let that saute for about 1 minute or so. Then add the green beans and give it a stir. Sautee for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally, until the green beans are fully coated. Then turn off the heat, squeeze lemon juice over top, sprinkle with more salt if you need it and serve immediately.