Recipe: Green Beans, Ham & Potatoes

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I have been hungry for this staple from my childhood, so I decided to make a big pot tonight and share the recipe with all of you. This is a very low-calorie meal so it is great when you are watching your weight or planning to splurge on dessert later.

Here is what you need:

2 bags frozen cut green beans 32 ounces each or 4 pounds fresh
1 pound ham cubed with fat trimmed off (you can use more or less or even leftovers)
4 medium-sized potatoes, washed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup instant chopped onions or fresh onion diced to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Just get a big pot (I used an 8-quart pot) and dump in the frozen green beans, the ham, and the onions. Add enough water to cover everything and get the rolling boil going. (If you are not sure what rolling boil means, watch the video above to see for yourself.)

While it is getting up to a boil, scrub the potatoes and remove any eyes growing out of them. (The eyes can go in the compost pile in case you were wondering.) No need to peel them the skins are good for you.

Cut the potatoes into quarters lengthwise, then cut those long quarters into about 1-inch cubes. Bigger is fine, but they take longer to cook through. Leave the skins on, that is why you scrubbed them, and where the nutrients are. They won’t kill you, I promise. Yes, I’m serious.

Now, add a generous amount of ground black pepper. I’m not sure you can use too much, but if you are not as confident go easy on it, you can always pepper your serving after you taste it.

Let it boil until you can easily cut the potatoes with a spoon or fork, but keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over or boil dry. You want it to cook down some. I usually let mine cook for 30-45 minutes. You can turn it down to simmer and keep it warm if you aren’t ready to eat yet. When we were growing up we ate buttered white bread with this, but you really have everything you need except dairy in that pot, so do whatever sounds good to you or just have this, that is what we did tonight.

I made 5 large servings about 24-32 ounces from this big pot, but you could add loads more potatoes to stretch it. You could also add more ham or green beans if that sounds better. If you are doing vegetarian or vegan, just skip the ham.

Here is what it looked like right after I added the potatoes:

I know you want to see the nutritional facts too, so here they are (thanks to the MyFitnessPal app):

The video above shows what it looks like when it is ready to eat. This recipe is very easy and very forgiving. It is hard to do it wrong unless you let it boil dry. It freezes well and reheats well in the microwave or in a pot on the stove top.

If you try it, let me know what you think. This meal has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

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