Green beans with caramelized onions and bacon

Super quick and super easy side dish alert!

I'm having dinner tonight with two girlfriends, we've started monthly paleo dinners and it's really nice to have other people who eat how I do, so we can get together, eat some healthy, delicious food and catch up with each other :)  Juliana is hosting tonight so I threw together a side.

• 1 bag frozen (or fresh if you've got them) green beans.  I bought the frozen french cut green beans, they just look a little fancier ;)
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4 strips of bacon
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat fry up your bacon.  When it's finished removed and put on a paper towel to absorb grease.  

Turn the skillet down to medium low and add the garlic and onions and saute until the onions start to caramelize (and your kitchen smells completely delicious)

Add the green beans and stir to combine everything.  You can use the beans straight out of the freezer, or you can let the beans thaw in the bag and drain the excess liquid.  I did an in between and there was some water in the pan, so if you have that problem, then just let it simmer until it's absorbed.

Meanwhile, turn your broiler on to high.

When the beans are almost finished, toss in the bacon (that you have no doubt crumbled while you were waiting for the onions to caramelize).  Then, wrapping the skillet handle in foil if it's not oven/broiler safe, stick under the broiler for 5-10 minutes or until the beans get crispy and slightly browned.

Season with salt and pepper.

Zucchini Fries

Hello world!  I'm alive and well, just been using a lot of cookbooks/old recipes/food not worth mentioning which is why I haven't posted much lately.

Today though, I have a new treat....Zucchini fries!

My apologies in advance, I kind of threw this together and as usual, didn't measure, but this is something that you can alter based on how much you are making.  And a helpful step if you have the time is after you slice the zucchini, wrap it in paper towel and let it sit for a couple of hours to draw out some of the moisture (although who knows, maybe they will be crispier if you don't let them dry out??).

Anyway, you will need:

• Zucchini
• Egg
• Almond meal
• Cayenne pepper (optional)
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the almond meal and spices in one dish and whisk an egg in another.  Dip thinly sliced zucchini in the egg then dredge through the almond meal mix.  You want just a light coating on these, too much and we all know how almond meal tastes when its caked on (gross).  

Arrange the zucchini strips on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping zucchini over halfway through.

I baked mine for 10 minutes on each side, and I probably could have baked them just a little bit longer, but the coating was starting to get crisp, and I definitely tasted the flavor of the seasoning (if I had to guess, I'd say I used 1/2-3/4C of almond meal and maybe 1/2-1 teaspoon of garlic powder and onion powder and 1/4-1/2 of cayenne...I really need to get better about measuring).

Serve with your side of dipping sauce (I whisked together a couple of tablespoons of olive oil mayo with a little bit of lemon juice, super tasty!).

I had two small zucchini that I made up as a test and I ended up eating the entire dish, oops!