Because I can't eat veggies without putting gravy on them.

I had a ton of green beans I needed to use up the other day. I grew up mostly eating green beans as a side dish, but there were too many for that and this variety takes so long to cook that I wanted to use them all at once. So I decided to make a green bean casserole type dish, but without baking it, so it's a pretty quick dinner. (It is inspired by the delicious green bean casserole my mom makes for Thanksgiving out of real ingredients, not the gross canned-beans-and-cream-of-mushroom-soup kind.)

Ingredients: Green beans, onions, mushrooms, bacon, chicken breast, french fried onions, half-and-half/milk/cream, olive oil/butter for sauteing, salt and pepper. 

1. Cook the green beans. The ones I was using simmer for 45 minutes. You can use the ones that microwave in like five minutes and it will be fine but not as good.

2. While the beans are cooking, saute your chicken breast and some onions and mushrooms. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

3. Fry some bacon in the same skillet. Remove and chop or crumble. Turn down heat to medium.

4. Combine beans, onions, mushrooms, chicken, and bacon and keep warm. (I drained the beans and combined everything in that pan and then just kept the lid on because the next step only takes a minute.)

5. Make a quick roux by stirring a tablespoon or two of flour in with the bacon fat and letting it cook for a minute. Then add half-and-half or milk or cream, whatever you have, and cook it until it thickens, stirring constantly with a metal whisk.

6. Stir the sauce and plenty of salt and pepper in with the veggies and meat, then put individual servings in bowls and top with french fried onions.

(Not the most beautiful dish ever, but it was really good.)