Green Beans with Pecans and Clementine Dressing

Happy holidays y’all! We’re getting close to our Christmas celebration and I personally can’t wait to finally put these dishes together and wow my family. I’ve been professionally cooking for the past 7 years. However, living in Las Vegas with just my ex-wife and daughter I never got a chance to show my magical powers off to my family. Now that I get a chance, I can hardly wait to have them taste my creations and inspirations I’ve been conjuring up.

Today’s recipe is another one from the powerful and almighty, Whole Foods Market. It’s a plant-strong recipe, low in sodium and zero fat and cholesterol. Once again folks, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. This recipe is so simple and tasty that why not share it with y’all and feature it on my countdown? It has only 6 ingredients and takes 20 minutes in total to make. Depending on your skills in the kitchen, if you know your way around prioritizing a prep list, this should be a cinch. I always say that “Simplicity is key to greatness!” Sometimes there are just those ingredients that speak for themselves and don’t need that much fuss and muss to attract many palates. Enough said, here’s the recipe…

Green Beans with Pecans and Clementine Dressing

Ingredients:

  • 1 small shallot, chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • Zest and juice of 3 clementines
  • 1 1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
  • 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Method:

  • (Boil a medium to large pot of water. Add a teaspoon of salt for every gallon of water to bring out the natural flavor of the beans.)
  • In a blender, combine shallot, mustard, salt and clementine juice and blend until smooth. Set aside.
  • Steam beans until bright green and barely tender, about 6 minutes. (If you have a steamer, this is perfectly fine way of cooking the beans. However, most home cooks don’t have a steamer handy so boiling, or rather blanching, would be a better solution. To Blanch Beans: Boil water. Fill a large bowl [enough to cool down beans] with ice water. Once the water is a-boiling, dunk the beans for about 4 minutes. You’ll notice that its green color will brighten. Then, quickly remove beans from the boiling water and submerge into the ice water to stop the cooking process and to freeze the color in the beans. Yum! This way will keep it bright green and crisp!)
Courtesy of the Johnson’s Backyard Garden
  • Transfer to a large bowl and drizzle with citrus dressing. Sprinkle with pecans and clementine zest to taste and serve.

THAT’S IT! Told you it was quick and easy. And oh, so tasty! Now for my little holiday twist.

SMN Variations:

  • Sprinkle 1 cup of pomegranate seeds over the green beans to add more texture and another bright burst of color. Plus it just boosts the flavor profile that much more.

  • If you want to be bold and brave, lightly toast your pecans before sprinkling over the beans. In a dry sauté pan, toast your pecans over medium heat while constantly moving the pecans around in the pan to prevent burning. You can tell the pecans are perfectly toasted once you start smelling a warm, nutty flavor and the pecans start to brown a bit.
Courtesy of Cooking For Seven

Any questions, you know where to reach me! Enjoy! 🙂

-Chef Flo

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Very Vegan Cyber Monday

As the rest of the world wakes up, the other half has already started their shopping online on this Cyber Monday 2012. From deals to steals, retailers of all kinds have knocked down their prices for all their online available products from 15-75% off! I’ve seen a few deals that have been going on since Black Friday and found plenty of new “doorbusters” just for today’s shopping frenzy. I’ve already completed my “essential Christmas list,” you know, the godchildren, nieces, and nephews. To me, they’re the most important and the ones that you’ll probably get real slack not giving gifts to. So I made sure I took care of them first. Today will be for me and the specialty gifts!

 

Some may be looking for electronics, some clothing, and most others, toys online. I’m focusing my efforts on the “hard to find” items. Think about it, instead of driving around looking for those specialty gifts (the ones you know you probably won’t find in stores but try anyway and buy yourself something instead) out there in the cold, I just made a fresh cup of coffee, put on my warmest robe, and planted myself in my office in front of the computer to get my hunting on. Even my Pandora app is promoting Cyber Monday deals on its commercials. (No, I won’t get the No Ads App…unless there’s a sale) That’s what makes today the success it is, you don’t have to trudge around in that nasty cold weather with all those unpleasant fellow shoppers. I know some may say that’s what make holiday shopping…fun?!?! I say, “Not my cup of tea!”

Personally, I am on the search for Vegan-friendly products. I woke up this morning and got my daily Vegan Cuts email with all their online deals! LOVE IT! I think I found what I was looking for right away. They had this amazing Vegan Snack Gift Basket with all these different delectable treats to enjoy by yourself or share with your meat-eating friends. Hopefully, they won’t fall in love with them too much! Here’s the Holiday Gift Package that they have on sale for ONLY $39!

Well, plus a $5.95 shipping fee but come on, you didn’t leave your house to purchase this. Fork it over and call it a day.

My favorite item in this package is the Holy Kakow chocolate syrup. I can cook with it along with topping my desserts and making hot chocolate with it. I’m too excited!

So if anyone out there is looking for that one gift for their vegan friend or a fellow foodie, I suggest this amazing syrup. It’s the most versatile vegan syrup I’ve ever found and enjoyed. Made from organic and raw ingredients, this item is dairy, gluten, and soy free along without using refined sugars. If anything the best chocolate syrup for you out there. Trust me, this thing rocks! Once I get mine in, I’ll post some amazing recipes using this syrup along with other ingredients I’ve found on Vegan Cuts and online. Please do the same!

Happy Cyber Monday and Happy Holidays!

 

[SMN HEALTHY HOLIDAY Recipes] BEER BRAISED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

If there’s one vegetable I’d want to increase in popularity, brussels sprouts would be it. I grew up thinking, “Brussels sprouts? Eeew!” But come to think about it, have I ever tasted them? I haven’t tasted one sprout but because of all the bad connotations I just didn’t want to even try one, ever!

It was only three years ago that I had my first brussels sprout and was I surprised. It tasted good! It was sweet, slightly bitter, but in a healthy kind of way. Then I learned that, not only did it taste good, but it’s good for you, too. Brussels sprouts contain sulforaphane which is a compound that exhibits anticancer, anti-diabetic, and antimicrobial properties. So needless to say,brussels sprouts are great for you!

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So without further ado, here’s my own recipe for the best, healthiest, tastiest, and easiest brussels sprouts!

[Serve M.E. Now]’s Beer Braised Brussels Sprouts

1 pound of brussels sprouts (trimmed and sliced in half), 1 fennel bulb (sliced), 1/2 a yellow onion (sliced), 1 cup of Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/jubelale), 1/2 cup of unfiltered apple juice, 1/2 cup of unsalted chicken broth, 2 tbsp of whole grain mustard, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of granulated garlic, 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp of dried oregano. (For directions for this recipe, subscribe to this blog or leave me a comment.)

The second star in this dish is the festive winter ale that the Deschutes Brewery in Portland, Oregon, produces in the Jubelale every single winter. It’s a malty, hoppy, peppery, chocolaty and perfectly spiced ale that helps braise these brussel sprouts and fennel into perfection. Jubelale is available from October to December annually. When it becomes available, I enjoy, not only drinking it, but cooking with it as well. This gives a new meaning to a beer pairing. Try this beer out and trust that you’ll fall in love as much as I did. It’s available at Whole Foods Market nationwide as you read this blog. Let me know what you think.

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If you have any questions about this recipe, just leave a COMMENT here on this blog, EMAIL me at servemenowcatering@yahoo.com, TWEET me at @servemenow, or LIKE me and on facebook.com/servemenow!

Stay tuned for the next recipe! Happy Holidays!