Grilled Green Beans with Feta Cheese

Everything tastes so much better on the grill, even if it's burnt well charred.  These green beans are quick side to make & eat hot or at room temp.

Ingredients

• 1 lb washed & stemmed green beans
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Make it!

1. Pre-heat your grill or a grill pan to medium-high heat.
2. Grill beans about 6-7 minutes or until tender.
3. In a bowl mix olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper.
4. Toss grilled green beans, dressing & crumbled feta together.
5. Serve hot or at room temp (it's probably good cold too!).

Green Beans Gremolata

I've been putting Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa FoolProof recipes to good use lately. I will definitely be making different renditions of these green beans gremolata  again. Next time maybe with asparagus instead of green beans or for a fun summer twist change up the gremolata combo with lime, cilantro & manchego cheese.

These beans are easy to make & great for a crowd because you can prep all of the stuff before you serve them & heat them up right before you want to serve.

Get the recipe & peep more photos after the jump!

Blackened Fish + Green Bean Quinoa

After a super decadent Fourth of July bbq at  Brian & Dulcie's house [read: there was lobster... enough said] I felt it was fitting to post about a decadent, yet simple way to make fish.  Make it blackened.  Basically you take a filet of fish dip in melted butter, coat it in spices & cook it on each side until it's cooked through & is white & flakey.  I went off this recipe using pollock & served green beans mixed with quinoa, fresh mint & basil for a simple yet filling meal.

Lean Green Beans

Fresh green beans are such a great spring/summer staple in our house.  These days I feel like the weather is still trying to decide which season it is. I whipped up these tasty green beans from my transitional produce and jarred items I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb green beans, washed and stemmed
• 1 cup sweet grape tomatoes halved
• 1 large roasted red pepper, cut into small strips
• 5 cloves of garlic, sliced
• olive oil
• salt  and pepper

Make it:

1. Steam green beans and drain.
2. In a deep skillet sauté tomatoes and peppers in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add in drained green beans and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes and serve warm.

If you love green beans (or just food in general) as much as  I do, join in the foodie pen pal phenomenon!  TheLeanGreenBean.com started this great community based activity where you send a package of food to a pen pal and get one back in return! You're assigned a foodie pen pal on the 5th of the month.  Using a budget of 15 bucks you pick foods you think you're pal would love and send out your package by the 15th of the month. Then you blog (or guest blog) to the world about it by the end of the month! It's such a fun idea I can't wait to get started. This month will be my first time participating! Check back to see what I get (and give!).