You guys. I found a way to get Lincoln to eat green beans.
Without complaining.
I’m jotting down this quick and simple recipe now before I forget all about it and spend even more time down the road lamenting how I cannot get my three-year-old to eat anything other than peanut butter and jelly or chicken nuggets.
The other night I was in scrounge-for-acceptable-dinner mode. (I just couldn’t justify any more nuggets, even if they are easy and a sure crowd-pleaser.) I didn’t have any meat defrosted and I hate defrosting in the microwave, so my “meat” option was limited to none or shrimp.
Luckily I had half a bag of Costco’s frozen shrimp leftover, and those things defrost fast under running water. (For some reason the bag says specifically not to defrost this way, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s wrong with it. Eh.)
Anyway, while the shrimp was under running water, I threw a ton of green beans in a pan with butter, thinking we’d have a nice veggie side. About five minutes in, I doused the beans with olive oil, added some garlic salt and oregano, and covered the pan.
At this point, I had to chase my cat Jack away from the shrimp in the sink, and deal with Lincoln yelling about something or other… so the green beans got pretty brown. Luckily, they still turned out fantastic, and I’m thinking of letting my green beans get nice and brown from here on out. I added the shrimp, more olive oil and seasoning and stirred all that brown goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan all over the food.
Holy moly, it was simple and delicious. And even better, my picky three-year-old had no problem gobbling up a whole bunch.
Simple, delicious, even a toddler would eat it… that’s a huge win in my book. And going into the dinner rotation for sure.
GREEN BEANS AND SHRIMP STIR FRY RECIPE
1. Heat large pan over medium/high heat.
2. Add a slab of butter and all the green beans.
3. After 5 minutes or so, mix melted butter and green beans together. (Butter should be sizzling.)
4. Add olive oil, garlic salt, and oregano to green beans and stir to mix.
5. After five more minutes, cover pan and reduce to medium heat.
6. After ten or so minutes, add shrimp to mixture, along with more olive oil, garlic salt, and oregano.
7. Let shrimp warm up in mix for about five minutes, or when green beans seem acceptably browned to your liking. 😉
8. Feed to toddler. Be amazed.
Ingredients
Directions
1. Heat large pan over medium/high heat.
2. Add a slab of butter and all the green beans.
3. After 5 minutes or so, mix melted butter and green beans together. (Butter should be sizzling.)
4. Add olive oil, garlic salt, and oregano to green beans and stir to mix.
5. After five more minutes, cover pan and reduce to medium heat.
6. After ten or so minutes, add shrimp to mixture, along with more olive oil, garlic salt, and oregano.
7. Let shrimp warm up in mix for about five minutes, or when green beans seem acceptably browned to your liking. 😉
8. Feed to toddler. Be amazed.
YUUUMMMY!! I love seafood, just wish it wasn’t so expensive here!
I’ve never thought of combining green beans in a stir fry before. I’ll give this recipe a try to change it up a bit. Thank you.