Something you should know about me that’s SUPER important is that I do not like to measure! I rarely measure anything when I’m cooking. As Rachael Ray would say, eyeball it! I’m a firm believer in eyeballing. It’s much easier for me to cook that way. As for baking, well, I’m no baker or pastry chef. Must be that measuring thing coming into play… Anyways, because of this blog, I am trying to be as exact as possible with my measurements to make it easy on anyone trying out my recipes. And luckily, I got out my measuring spoons and measuring cup to give you exact amounts today!

As with most cooking, I think it’s mostly a method or technique, and not necessarily about a recipe. If you’ve got the method down, it will usually come together in the end. I usually stick with garlic powder, salt and pepper for my veggie cooking, but this recipe has something a little special, and it’s called brown sugar and balsamic.

My neighbor told me that her mother-in-law loves her fresh green beans with balsamic and sugar. She then told me how she makes them. They sounded great but I wanted to speed up the recipe a bit (shortcut!) so this is what I came up with.

Brown Sugar & Balsamic Green Beans

• 1 lb. fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
• 3/4 c. chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Butter goes in the pan (I like using a cast iron skillet for this). On medium heat, let it melt. Add your trimmed and clean green beans. Stir to coat the beans with the butter. At this point, I turn up the heat to medium high. Add the chicken broth. It should sizzle! Cover with a lid, but not all the way. Leave the lid a bit to the side to let a little bit of steam escape. Leave the heat at medium to medium high and let cook for about 15 minutes. You can check to see if the green beans are tender by sticking a fork in them. Once they’re tender, take the lid off and let cook until the chicken broth is almost evaporated. Push green beans to the side and add in the brown sugar to the remaining broth and see it melt! Then add the balsamic. It should almost become syrupy. Stir it all together. That’s it. Dinner side dish, DONE!