Orange and Garlic Roasted Green Beans

My memories of green beans begin in childhood. My mom would often heat a few cans of green beans on the stove for dinner, maybe sprinkling a little salt to add to the taste. I am sure for her, as a mother, every vegetable she could get my brother and I to consume was a victory in those early years. Fortunately for her, as a child I loved those canned green beans. Canned green beans do not have any weird stems, they were easy to chew, and probably had a lot of added salt- what’s not to love as a five year old?

As I have grown up and developed my own habits in the kitchen, canned fruits and vegetables is something I generally try to stay pretty far away from. I eat canned beans, but that’s about it. Thus, when I moved out of my parents home, I stopped eating green beans from a can, and pretty much forgot about the vegetable all together. That is, until last week.

While produce shopping I noticed that my grocery store had an enormous pile of green beans on sale last week. They looked so fresh and healthy; I immediately got a craving for them! So that night I threw together this recipe, served them up with my dinner, and was happy all around. Grateful for the simple things in life.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Pounds green beans
3 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
Optional: dash of salt and shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and brush a baking sheet with a thin layer of olive oil.
Rinse the green beans and remove the stems if desired.
Combine the orange juice, orange zest, and minced garlic in a large Tupperware. Add the green beans, seal, and shake until the green beans are coated in a thin layer of garlic and orange juice.
Spread the green beans out on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flipping in the middle.
Serve warm with shredded parmesan cheese and a dash of salt. Enjoy!