Pork Chops, Scalloped Potatoes, Caramelized Green Beans

My husband grilled the pork chops and just basted them with bbq sauce. The scalloped potatoes weren't terrific, so I'm not posting that recipe. I'm really here to post the green beans recipe.
Growing up, my mom made different vegetables for dinner sometimes. But my dad, he really only eats corn and succotash (lima beans and corn together). I never could eat peas (they seriously make my tongue itchy...guess I'm a little sensitive??) and green beans from a can were gross. So I basically only eat corn. (I also eat salads and fresh veggies, but cooked ones, pretty yucky to me).

I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the Best Bites site. And that is where the recipe for Caramelized Green Beans come from. I use frozen green beans in the recipe, so it cuts down prep time significantly.

Caramelized Green Beans (Courtesy of Our Best Bites)
1 lb. (actually, just a little bit more...maybe 1 1/8 lb.) fresh green beans
1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
Lots of freshly-ground pepper

Begin frying the bacon in a large skillet. Start boiling a large pot of water. Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.

Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a small bowl.

Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed (or minced..), and everything is ready to go.

Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel. If you feel like it, you can crumble it now or wait until it's cooled off a little. Pour bacon drippings out of pan.

Return a couple tablespoons of bacon drippings to the pan or just use some olive oil and heat pan to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot...

--Add onions and garlic. Give them a quick stir and then...

--Add beans to boiling water. Place colander in a clean sink. Boil for one minute; you're not cooking them until they're done, just blanching them to take the edge off. Meanwhile, stir the onions and garlic so they don't scorch. After one minute, drain beans in the colander in the sink.

--Once beans have been drained, add them to the onions and garlic. Stir fry 2-3 more minutes.

--Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans. Keep stir-frying until the beans get kind of glazy. Do this for another 2 minutes.


--Add crumbled bacon and lots of freshly-ground pepper to the beans. Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes so the beans cool down a bit and the glaze thickens up a little.