Another Recipe and a July Giftaway

Two posts in one day - unusual for me, I know, but the first one was the June blog winner announcement. Pretend that this is one continuous post, with the announcement being "1A" and this post being "1B", if you will. Before you ask, yes, there will be a July Giftaway.

The Monthly Giftaway is a regular feature of this blog; June's was special to celebrate three special birthdays of the men in my life, as my brother, son and husband all three were born in June.

This month, July, will be another special one as it is my birth month as well as two of my granddaughters, Haley and Chastity (who happen to both turn 12). The "rules" will be the same as last month. One comment during this month will get your name entered once; two comments, two entries, etc.

What is the prize package, you ask? (I'm shrugging my shoulders.) I haven't put it together yet. Okay, not all of it. You'll have to trust me, it will be a package as nice as June's.

That being said, I thought I'd share a recipe that I fixed for dinner tonight. I used these:

Fresh green veggies picked from our garden, but if your garden isn't yet ready for harvesting or if you don't have a garden, fresh beans from your favorite market will do just fine!

I cook these al dente so they remain somewhat crisp, which gives them an Oriental flair.

You'll need:

Fresh green beans, enough to serve your family Fresh green onions (I used a large green onion, per the photo; you may want to use three small green onions, depending on your own preference) Clove or two of garlic (again, per your taste) Extra virgin olive oil Beef buillion granules, enough to make 1 Cup buillion (You can use cubes if you want; I prefer the granules. Or, you can use a can of beef broth.)

1. Thoroughly wash the beans, snapping off the ends and removing the "strings". Cut out any "bad" or damaged spots. 2. Toss them in a pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and heat them as you would to braise them 3. Cut the green onion (the entire onion, including the green top) in thin slices. Chop the garlic and stir both into the beans. 4. When the white part of the onion is looking transparent, add the buillion, cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove the cover and allow the liquid to cook into the beans.

If you've visited many Oriental restaurants with buffets, you've probably seen similarly prepared green beans. I'd show you a picture but I forgot to photograph the process.

Our meal tonight included the beans, broasted potato slices and grilled ribeye. The ribeye was on sale at Kroger. Otherwise, we would have probably had grilled porkchops.

If you're wondering about the banana peppers in the photo: Those went to our parrots. They love peppers of all kinds. And yes, they are very spoiled birds.

The tutorial I'm doing on chair upholstery will (probably) continue tomorrow. I got a little sidetracked with our trip.

Later!