Ardelle's Sweet and Sour Greenbeans

As a vegetarian, I've shied away from a number of my German grandmother's favorite foods and recipes. One tried-and-true recipe that I've always adored, however, is her sweet and sour greenbeans. These are a snap to make, and keep well in the fridge.

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup of white vinegar
-3/4 cup of water
-3/4 cup of sugar
-1 can of french cut greenbeans*, drained
-chopped onions, if desired

*Note: Fresh peeled and sliced cucumbers can be substituted for the greenbeans.

Directions:
Combine vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Combine with greenbeans (or cucumbers) and onions if desired. Refrigerate, serve chilled. This lasts a long time in the refrigerator and is better if made a day or two ahead of serving.

Weeknight Cheater Recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole

I love a good sweet potato casserole. When else is a vegetable practically a dessert? Plus, I find that its just as delicious as a cold leftover as it is warm fresh out of the oven.

However, the thought of roasting sweet potatoes and spending lots of time on the topping makes them seem an unlikely candidate for a weeknight dinner. Until I decided to try a weeknight cheater version.

Instead of baking the sweet potatoes, I pierced each one a few times with a fork and microwaved until they were done (my microwave has a potato setting, if yours doesn't, you can try 2-3 minutes at a time). While the potatoes were cooling a bit, I preheated the oven and gathered my topping ingredients. I scooped each of the sweet potatoes out of its shell and mashed a bit with a fork before placing in the pie dish. Then, I topped with sweet corn flake cereal (Trader Joe's honey bunches of oats type) which I crushed with my hands and some pre-crushed baking walnuts. I zapped some butter in the microwave to melt it and stirred some brown sugar into the butter before drizzling over the top. Then I baked for 20 mins at 350. Pretty easy, and very worth the minimal effort.

*PS--isn't the spoon rest adorable? I got it from Texas Ceramics on Etsy (texasceramics.etsy.com).