​With so many fresh green bean ideas it is hard to decide which to serve tonight with dinner.  I have been on a Dijon mustard kick lately so why not add it to green beans.  These came out so tasty I called them The Tastiest Green Beans!  I used to boil my green beans until tender but now sautéing and roasting are my favorite ways to prepare them.  This recipe is slightly sweet and mildly spicy.  It is the perfect side dish to any meal.  It also travels well and makes a great picnic food!  

​Ingredients
1 pound fresh green beans (about 3 cups trimmed)
1 teaspoon olive oil for sauce
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil for pan
1/2 tablespoon chili paste
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 scallions thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon pepper
dash salt
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
 
Clean and trim the ends off your green beans and set aside. 
 
In a bowl whisk together the oil, chili paste, mustard, vinegar, scallions, salt and pepper. 
 
Put 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet, heat to medium high.  Add the beans to the pan and toss around for about 5 minutes.  Then add 3 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover it, turn the heat to medium and let it simmer 5 minutes.  Remove the cover, turn the heat back up and stir in the whisked ingredients.  Toss beans until fully coated and let heat for another 2 minutes.
 
Place beans on serving plate and squeeze with fresh lemon juice, about 1 teaspoon.  

​Just the smell of this dish will bring them to the kitchen.  With summer here and fresh green beans at every farmers market, now it the time to try new recipes and see what is your favorite.  I think this will be on your list because they are Mangialicious!!!  

I first made this to go with my scramble egg bruschetta but quickly discovered plenty of uses for it.  It’s a delicious garlic bread spread, great added to fried potatoes, and adds a spicy touch to hummus.  With summer coming to an end, and all the hot peppers and parsley I have in the garden, this is nice to keep in the refrigerator for quick meal ideas.  I have not tried making this with green peppers but if you don’t like the heat and want to give it a try, let me know.

Rub the peppers lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Place them on a baking sheet in an even layer under the broiler until they begin to blister.  Keep flipping them over to get all sides blistered.   Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 15 minutes, and then remove the stems and seeds.

Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan just until you begin to smell them.  In a food process combine the hot peppers, parsley, cheese, pine nuts, garlic and some salt and pepper.  Process until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil through the feed tube until smooth.  You want it to be a spreadable consistency.  If is begins to get to thin, then stop adding the oil.

You can refrigerate this for up to a week.  Actually I used mine after 10 days and it was still just as good as the first day I made it.  After trying it I am sure you will find many uses for it, after all, it is Mangialicious!

Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
½ an onion grated
3 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 35-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes, with their liquid
3 tbsps chopped basil – If using dried, 1 tbsp
2 tbsps chopped mint – If using dried, 1 ½ tsp
1 ½ tsps salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large (12-inch) skillet.  Add the onion and sauté until translucent then add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  Add the tomatoes by hand smooshing them in one at a time.  I like to remove the hard stem end.  Then add the pepper flakes, basil and mint, salt and pepper.   Bring to a boil then lower the heat.  Cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 20 minutes.

While it is not quite vegetable season here, with the weather getting warmer those cravings for light fresh salads have arrived.  We were going to a Mother’s Day picnic and had to decide on something to bring.  Normally I would have made a regular macaroni salad with the mayo, tuna and eggs but the air smelled so good outside I wanted something light and fresh.  I had nothing in mind but a quick trip to the grocery store and going up and down the aisles I picked up items that just sounded good to me.  Here is what I put together, it turned out so delicious. I hope you try it out!!

Ingredients:
1 lb. pasta
1 pack grape tomatoes
1 large zucchini
1 large bunch of broccoli broke into florets
1 c sunflower seeds
¾ c dried cranberries
½ c crumbled goat cheese

Dressing:
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
½ tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. honey
½ tbsp. grated onion
Salt and pepper

Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.

While the pasta is cooking, cut the zucchini into cubes and place them in a large bowl.  Quarter the grape tomatoes and separate the broccoli into florets.  Place them all in the same bowl.

Make dressing by placing all of the ingredients in a small bowl or measuring cup.  I like to use a measuring cup because it makes it easy to pour out.  Mix all the ingredients together using a small whisk.

Add the cooled pasta to the bowl, the sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and crumbled goat cheese.  lightly toss to combine everything.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until everything is coated well.   Salt and pepper to taste.

If you wanted a little more green, add some fresh spinach or arugula to it.  If you don’t like dried cranberries, you can substitute dried cherries or even raisins.  Any way you decide, I am sure you with think it is Mangialicious.

Ingredients:
6 Roma Tomatoes, chopped or 4 or 5 small vine tomatoes, chopped
2 or 3 long green hot peppers, seeded (and or 1 bell pepper, any color)
½ purple onion, peeled & finely chopped (and or scallions finely chopped)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lime, zest and juice
Salt and Pepper to taste (dash of chili powder, optional)
Cilantro (small handful, chopped)

Even though our garden veggies are not ready yet, the warmer weather has gotten me excited about salsa.  One thing I love to eat all summer long is fresh salsa!  I could and will pretty much put it on anything from corn chips to rice or quinoa, to a chicken breast.  Before we got our food processor, I would chop everything with a knife, which works well… but I find it much easier and quicker now.  “Pulse, pulse, pulse” and I am done!  It takes a total of about 10 minutes from start to finish and I find I make it way more often since the addition of a food processor to our “kitchen family”.  

I pretty much use whatever I have on hand, whether it be green, red or long green hot peppers, purple onion or scallions (sometimes both), cilantro or parsley,  Roma or small vine tomatoes.  Most often I use fresh garlic, but not always.  Sometimes I even add a few slices of melon to give it a bit of sweetness.  One thing I ALWAYS include is the lime.  The lime in my opinion is the STAR to my fresh yummy salsa. I also always use the long green hot peppers (dark green finger or Hungarian) as we like a bit of heat to our salsa with that fresh limey blast!

So just give those veggies a rinse and a rough chop (remove stems, cut in halves, seed the peppers), toss them into the food processor, add the oil, the lime juice and the zest (for a more mild lime flavor, leave the zest out....Are you crazy!?) and the salt & pepper(s) to taste.  “Pulse, pulse, pulse” to your desired chunkiness.   Yum!   No food processor?  Get chopping with your best sharp knife… be careful please.  This makes enough mangialicious salsa for about  4-6 people.  

Ingredients
12 white potatoes
4 oz mascarpone cheese
1 stick butter
1/3 cup milk
Salt and pepper

Directions
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 inch pieces.  Make sure they are all the same size so that they cook evenly.  Place the potatoes into a pan of cold water and then bring the pan to a boil.  Let the potatoes cook until fork tender.  This should take about 12 minutes or so once it begins to boil.  Drain the potatoes in a strainer and return to the hot pan.  Let sit a minute or two so that the remaining water evaporates.

Heat the milk and the butter in a saucepan until butter is melted. 

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher just to smoosh them up a little bit.  Add the mascarpone and mash until it is melted.  Add the milk and butter with some salt and pepper and mash until desired consistency.  Serve immediately.  If you cannot serve right away, cover with tinfoil to keep warm.

I switch between using a hand masher, the hand mixer and a food mill.  It depends on what I am serving and the desired consistency I want my potatoes to be.  For an elegant meal I use the food mill because they become velvety smooth.  I use the hand mixer a lot when I am doing large amounts of potatoes for a holiday such as Thanksgiving.  Feel free to use which ever method you feel most comfortable with.  Anyway you mash the potato, it will be Mangialicious.