Green Beans and Butternut Squash

Green Beans and Butternut Squash
Serves Variable

This is a wonderful cool weather meal. It is very well-suited to pork dishes, but hearty fish (salmon), lamb or venison would be equally good.

On my podcast, Make Your Someday Today, many guests talk about need to make adaptations to changing conditions. When you make a side dish like that, you have automatic flexibility. You can prepare whichever meat you have in your freezer or is on sale at your local market. And this dish simply looks good!

Fresh green beans
Medium butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil

I didn't weigh the ingredients, so I don't know how much to tell you to use. I used about 4 cups of beans and 2 cups of squash and got 4 large portions from it.

1. Put a large pot of water on the stove, and turn to high
2. Peel the squash. 
3. Cut into approximately 1/2 inch (10mm) slices. Then cut them into cubes.
4. Trim the ends off the beans, and wash under cold water.
5. Heat a large non-stick pan over med-high heat. Spray with cooking spray.
6. Place squash in pan. Let them saute a bit until the first side begins to brown, then start to toss every minute or so to evenly brown them.
7. When the water comes to a boil, place all the beans in. Prepare a colander in the sink.
8. After one minute, pour the pot of beans into colander. (You just "blanched" those beans.)
9. Let them drip dry for a minute, then add them to the large skillet. Continue to toss until the beans are heated through. 
10. When done, the squash will retain its shape, but be easy to piece with a fork, and the beans will be hot, yet still have crispness. (If you want the beans softer, keep them in the water for an additional 2-3 minutes.) 

Nutritional data:

Calories:           96

Fat:               3.8mg

Sat fat:             0.6g

Chol:                0mg

Sodium:         9.4mg

Carbs:             15.8g

Fiber:                4.4g

Protein:             2.7g

This is excellent with grilled pork chops, by the way!
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My podcast, Make Your Someday Today is a twice-weekly show, where we talk to successful people in all walks of life and around the world on Monday, and then on Thursday, I take a specific message from the previous guest and give my "Trevitorial", where I help you apply that message to your life. The entire purpose of the show is to help all of us overcome our challenges and fears and become the person we want to be, the person we deserve to be. I hope you give it a listen!