Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Cranberries

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon at my dad's house and we whipped up dinner together. While getting cookie supplies on Thursday we had found some roasting chickens on sale which are one of my dad's specialty. Neither of us had had one in forever so we picked one up! We already had plans for Sunday so it worked out perfectly. Me and Layla headed up to his house after lunch and had a relaxing day around the house. It was much needed after a busy day on Saturday at a friend's wedding.

My dad might be Layla's second favorite person (I'm obviously the first haha!) so she was super excited to be at his house again. As soon as I opened the car door, she shot out like a rocket to run to the front door! The weather was gorgeous and we were able to open the deck doors to let some fresh air in. 


For dinner, we made some green beans to go with the chicken. My dad also made a pasta dish but Sundays are my low-carb days so it was no pasta for me! Since my step-mom is out of town, my dad has been cleaning out the cabinets so we just threw something random together but it turned out great! We found the green beans and I spied some slivered almonds and dried cranberries and suggested we put them together. 

So the chicken was super easy to make! My dad's secret to making the chicken perfect is to take an apple and slice it into quarters and then stuff that into the chicken to keep it moist while it's roasting. Then, we sliced up about 1/2 a stick of butter into smaller pieces which we stuffed underneath the skin for it to get crispy. Lastly, we seasoned it with some salt and pepper, and that was it! We roasted it in the oven according to the directions based on the weight of the chicken. 

For the green beans, we took a bag of frozen beans that we thawed in the microwave. While the beans were defrosting, we toasted the slivered almonds (about 1/4 cup) in a pan with some butter. When the beans were ready we put them in with the almonds and seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. About 1-2 minutes before the dish was ready, I put in a couple tablespoons of dried cranberries. It was a really good combination! The almonds added some crunch and the cranberries a hint of sweetness and tartness. 


It was a delicious dinner, and I'll definitely be making these green beans again soon! 

Did you guys do anything fun this weekend?

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