Main dish green bean casserole

We are going out of town this Thanksgiving to spend it with my husband's family so I won't be cooking a huge meal this year for a change.  There's a great advantage to this but the down side is no leftovers so I have been making Thanksgiving themed food for dinner/lunches the last couple of weeks. I made a cornbread dressing casserole with chicken added which I will post about later and have baked sweet potatoes for my and my daughter's lunches.  This past weekend I made an updated green bean casserole with ham added for dinner.  I love green bean casserole and not sure why I only make it around the holidays but this recipe will change that.  My husband and daughter loved it and I was pretty please with myself as well.  I used fresh green beans from my freezer that I had put up from my farmers market purchases. I cooked them in a pot of water with onion, seasoned salt, garlic and pepper for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until tender. I saved the bean cooking liquid and froze it like broth in a freezer bag for a future soup. I make and freeze broth all the time. Homemade is so much better than canned and much lower in salt. My husband is on a low salt diet so I use very little salt in my cooking and mainly use seasoned salt. I sautéed some additional vegetables; shallots, garlic, onion, zucchini, and yellow squash in a little olive oil and added some of the bean liquid until the veggies were tender. My husband had told me "not to get carried away" adding too many vegetables, but I thought these additional ones worked well with the beans. I had a ham steak we cut up into bite size pieces and added in so it was more of a main than side dish. I put it all together in a casserole pan, added the traditional cream of mushroom soup and French fried onions, heated in oven for 30 minutes and dinner was done.

Main dish green bean casserole recipe


4 to 6 c fresh green beans (I had 2 quart bags full)
water to cover
2 onions, chopped
1/2 c green onions, chopped
1 to 2 shallots, chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
seasoned salt and pepper
1 c zucchini, chopped
1/2 c yellow squash, chopped
1/2 c sweet peppers, chopped
2 T olive oil
1/2 t garlic pepper
2 T parsley
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can French fried onions
1 ham steak, cubed


In large pot cook green beans, 1 onion and enough water to cover, adding seasoned salt and pepper. Cook 1 1/2 to 2 hours until tender.  In skillet sauté in olive oil with a little bean cooking liquid added, other onion, shallots, green onions, zucchini, squash, garlic and sweet peppers, adding seasoned salt and pepper until tender. Drain green beans, (saving liquid if desired, freezes great) and combine with sautéed veggies in casserole dish with cubed ham, add both cans of cream of mushroom soup, garlic powder, parsley and a little more seasoned salt and pepper.  Gently stir until combined and top with French fried onions. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until bubbly and heated through. 
Enjoy
Bamah