MUSTARD GREEN BEANS

My mother occasionally dressed up green beans by cooking them with onions and then tossing them with butter and yellow mustard. I thought nothing of this. When I began cooking for a family, I would drain the beans, put in a pat of margarine, and toss them with just a touch – maybe two teaspoons -- of plain ol' yellow mustard from the squeeze bottle.

Then came the night that I served the mustard green beans to my mother. "How do you make your mustard green beans?" she asked. So, I described the above method. "For heaven's sake, Kathy!" she exclaimed. "When I think how I followed that recipe – carefully measuring the ingredients – and you just stir some mustard into the beans!"

So I had to laugh when Murray asked for my recipe for mustard green beans. I don't use a recipe. I just make it. And these days I don't even melt any butter with the beans – I just squeeze a little mustard on them. If it isn't working for you, perhaps you're using too much mustard. And if you want onion, I would say to drain the beans and then add a couple of teaspoons of instant minced onion and let them warm together for a few minutes. Or you could cook the beans with a couple of tablespoons of diced raw onion.

We seldom have bacon in the house, but I do love to cook green beans with a little chopped raw bacon and some diced onion. "Those beans are special," someone told me when I took them to a potluck. Such a simple thing. And it works whether the beans are fresh or canned.

Last night plans to go out to dinner with friends fell through. Their dog, Duke, tore his ear late in the afternoon, was bleeding profusely, and had to make a trip to emergency to have the ear super glued. Naturally Duke needed attention throughout the evening, so Mike and I took ourselves out for barbecue which is located at the old "Smitty's Barrel." Anyway, my side of green beans was very good – cooked with chunks of bacon and barbecue sauce.

[After a skiff of snow last night, today dawned bright and crisp – 9 degrees.] KW