By Erin at $5 Dinners
Each of these green vegetable dishes are not only healthy and lower in
calories than a traditional casserole, they won’t take up any space in
the oven. Each vegetable can be prepared on the stove top and won’t
need any of that precious “Thanksgiving morning oven time”!
Green Beans and Garlic
2 lb. fresh green beans
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Snap or cut the stems off the green beans. Rinse well and pat dry.
Place oil in skillet and set heat to medium-high. Add green beans and garlic slices. Saute for 4-5 minutes, until green beans turn a brighter green. Serves 8-12. Cost: approximately $4
Sauteed Asparagus
2 lb. fresh asparagus
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Snap the ends off the asparagus. Hold each end of the asparagus and push ends together away from you. Allow the asparagus to “naturally” snap. Rinse and pat dry. About 15 minutes before sautéing the asparagus, drizzle oil over the asparagus and let sit. Saute asparagus with olive oil over medium-high heat in skillet for 4-5 minutes. The asparagus will turn brighter green. It is ready to serve! Serves 8-12. Cost: $3.50
Lemon Broccoli
8-12 heads of broccoli
Lemons
Steam broccoli in steamer for 3-5 minutes. Slice fresh lemon into 6-8 wedges. Serve lemon wedges next to broccoli and suggest that guests squeeze lemon over their broccoli. Serves 8-12. Cost: approximately $6
What are your favorite vegetables to serve at Thanksgiving? The traditional green bean casserole or something else? I’d love to hear!
Up Next: Our Favorite Roll Recipe
Laura says
Our planned menu is here: http://tenthingsfarm.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-is-week-away.html
I ‘have’ to do the green bean casserole for hubby, but the glazed carrots and the ‘steamers’ corn are both lighter and simple, and don’t need oven time! I’m doing some things ahead – details at the link above! 🙂
We actually grew the potatoes, carrots, green beans and the pumpkin for the pie here at ten things farm. Woot!
Marisa Moore says
We forgo the sweet potato casserole and like to roast a bunch of veggies together. Like parsnips, turnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots. Yummy!!
Davonne says
I’ve never even heard of green been casserole, let alone had it for Thanksgiving that I can remember!
We serve sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. And we almost always have mashed potatoes too. YUM!!!
Heidi @ GGIP says
We now make a green bean dish with portabellas and bacon but these could be delicious too! THanks so much for sharing the recipes. I LOVE interesting veggie dishes!
Shannon says
We always have broccoli. I never used to care much for it until I tried it the way my father-in-law makes it. He steams it with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of basil. Now, we eat it usually twice a week and I wouldn’t make it any other way!
Andrea says
Okay…I was going to let the stuffing comment slide. But nix the green bean casserole!? HERESY!
Just kidding. I LOVE green bean casserole. But I haven’t had it at Thanksgiving in years. We tend to serve it more for every day dinners – only cutting the soup addition in half.
The last few years, my mom and I have made green beans (a bit of apple cider vinegar tossed with olive oil, garlic, and onion powder, topped with a mix of bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and italian herbs. Bake for 15 minutes or so, enjoy!), a green salad, squash, etc. The stuffings Mom makes, along with the sweet potato casserole, are rich enough. We need a green veggie or two to balance out the carb induced food comas. 🙂 The salad last year was just a combo of romaine, green leaf, and red leaf with red onions, walnuts, dried cranberries, some bleu cheese, and the viniagrette on the side. YUM!
But asparagus? Yuck! Props to those who like it – I just never could stomach it.
KayleighJeanne says
Our family always serves broccoli salad. Raw broccoli, chopped bacon, yellow raisins, sunflower seeds, and a dressing made from apple cider vinegar, sugar, and mayonnaise. I love it because I can make everything the day before, and not have to worry about it on Thanksgiving.
Frugalchick says
The green beans and asparagus looks so easy. I don’t think it has to wait for Thanksgiving, though. I can serve these anyday!
Julie says
Green beans and asparagus are also great tossed with slivered/diced roasted almonds (I stock up when on sale and store in the freezer) or a little lemon zest and juice (zest adds more flavor than juice because the peel is where the essential oils are; you can even zest your fruit and freeze the zest for future cooking use). If you have any leftover bacon, you can also cook and crumble it with green beans. Orange zest and juice are good on brocolli.
Carole says
LOL!! I had a good chuckle at this post because I was just quoting you last night from your stuffing and cranberry sauce post (“For the record, cranberry sauce would also be an area my minimalistic nature would nix. “), except I re-worded it for GREEN VEGETABLES!!
I grew up with carbs, carbs, carbs on Thanksgiving, so even though I LOVE fresh green beans with onions and butter on the stovetop, I don’t make a green veggie on Thanksgiving!! 🙂 Blessings to all!!!
Honey says
We usually do our share of the green bean casserole, hash brown casserole, etc. But I also love to make a delicious green garden salad with lots of veggies or a brocolli dish (my whole family loves brocolli). The instruction for brocolli are to melt a tiny bit of butter in a saute pan. Add brocolli (frozen or fresh) to pan over medium heat. When it starts to sizzle a little, I add a little white wine (cooking type is fine). At the end add a handful or two of walnuts and heat until toasted. This is easy, but takes brocolli from ordinary to special.