Roasted Green Beans with Bacon

Want a healthy holiday friendly veggie side dish that everyone will love?  These Roasted Green Beans with Bacon will be the first dish to disappear during any weeknight dinner or special holiday!

These green beans are literally the result of a Kelli free hand experiment on Thanksgiving day.  According to my Thanksgiving survey, noone was really into creamy veggie casseroles like scallop potatoes, or gratins.  We have our mashed potatoes and mashed cauliflower to satisfy that need.  However, one piece of feedback that I did receive is that there was not enough bacon last year (2015.)  So, this year, I made my Bacon Zucchini Quiche for breakfast which was a huge hit.  As I was making up the green beans I remember I had some bacon leftover from the quiche, so I decided to add it in with the green beans, best decision ever!

I also added fresh thyme, which I think made the world of difference.  It imparts a fresh deep herb flavor that is simply unmatched by dried spices.  I’m also proud to say that the 5 potted her plants I bought at Trader Joes (mint, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and sage) are still alive and kicking.

It’s been a week and I haven’t killed them yet!  I almost did, and then my MIL showed me the BEST trick ever.  Apparently dumping water into the plants is not sufficient enough.  If you truly want to water your plants you should let them drink from the bottom.

So three times a week these little pots of herbs go into a pan and drink 2 inches of water.  So far so good, fingers crossed they stay alive!  If I can keep them alive it will be much cheaper than buying fresh herbs and I will forever have greenery for all my photos.  #foodbloggerproblems

I think that every single person who attended Thanksgiving commented on the green beans, which honestly, kind of surprised me.  My MIL loved them so much she made them again three days later, without the bacon.  (Interesting because she was the one that said there wasn’t enough bacon!)

On a side note, every time I make green beans I laugh a little bit to myself.  Up until I was 22 I had no idea green beans look or taste like these ones.  The only version of green beans I ever had was canned.  You know what’s even better than that?

The fact that my Grandma used to make canned green beans with bacon, butter, and SUGAR (I talk about my the foods I was raised on in my very first post here on HH).  As if they weren’t devoid of nutrition enough.

So, if anyone out there is just learning to cook or just seeing a real green bean for the first time.  I feel you, I’m with you, I’m encouraging you!  There is a whole world out there of healthy and tasty foods waiting for you to discover them.  Starting with these green beans!

[Tweet “Just like grandma made them! Roasted Green Beans with #Bacon via @hungryhobby #paleo #glutenfree #dairyfree”]

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