One dish meals.

I am a firm believer in theses dishes. They contain all the ingredients of a complete meal, they are always easy to make and in so little time. In fact the time you'll need to prepare one of these meals is almost the time you'll need to make one dish, so you cut two thirds of the time you need to have the food on the table. When you prepare one of these dishes you can also reduce your dependence on meat, especially on prepared and processed foods, which we all know are very detrimental to our health.
Also in the wonderful winter wonderland where we live in the Northeastern US these days, I doubt that we can all go to the store to buy groceries, or anything else for that matter. One dish meals are something you can whip up in a second from ingredients you have in the pantry or in the freezer.
Today I have two recipes for you. I just made them last week, and they were a big hit.

CHICKEN AND PENNE TRICOLORE

I call this dish "tricolore" not because the pasta has 3 colors, as some brands do, but because the dish is made of ingredients that come in three colors. You have chicken and pasta (white), green veggies and carrots. As I always believe a recipe is not a dogma, you can always tweak it to suit your taste. This is why I can make this dish with white sauce or tomato sauce. It all depends on the flavor du jour. It proved to be a big hit with children, they probably like it because they are not confronted with many choices (which can be a kind of a daunting task for a young child), it is already cut in bite size, and somehow it resembles macaroni and cheese, but healthier.
Another tweak is that you can make it vegetarian and serve it as a side dish. I'll tell you how. You'll need for the basic recipe:

- 2 chicken breasts cut in strips less than a 1/4 of an inch thick
- 3/4 of a box of penne (preferably rigate so it can hold the sauce better)
- 8 to 10 sprigs of asparagus
- 1 green zucchini
- about 1 cup baby carrots
- 1 and 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 cup water (you can use pasta water)
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp onion and garlic frozen mixture
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste.

In a large skillet mix the chicken strips with the onion and garlic, add salt and pepper, and set aside until you prepare the vegetables. Cut off the tough end of the asparagus and cut them into pieces as big as the penne. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, then cut each half in half again lengthwise, then in pieces as big as the penne. Check the baby carrots: some will be small enough to keep as is, others will need to be cut in half. You will have 2 piles of veggies all cut as the same size as the pasta. Boil the water and start cooking the pasta. As soon as it comes again to a boil, add the carrots. They usually need longer to cook. On medium high heat, start cooking the chicken strips that were marinating, stir until the meat is no longer pink. In a measuring cup, stir the flour in the skim milk until all lumps are dissolved. Add the milk mixture to the chicken and stir. Don't worry you'll have a creamy white sauce without any fat added. Trust me, the milk will thicken.Cook the chicken in the sauce for about 5 minutes to make sure that the flour is completely cooked. In the mean time, just before the pasta and carrots become al dente, add the green veggies (asparagus and zucchini). You can use a cup of the pasta water to thin out the sauce. Drain the pasta with the veggies and add to the chicken, add the oregano, and stir until all ingredients are well coated. Serve topped with grated parmigiano.

DISH 2: If you prefer to go with tomato sauce, you'll need the same ingredients, but replace the milk and flour with 1 can (15 oz) of tomato sauce. Add it to the chicken when it is no longer pink and stir. Then add the pasta and veggies as in the recipe.

DISH 3: As a side dish or vegetarian meal omit the chicken. If you chose the white sauce, heat the flour and milk mix in the skillet and cook until the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper and oregano, then the cooked pasta with veggies.
If you prefer the tomato sauce, cook the onion and garlic mixture in a tsp of olive oil until translucent, add the sauce, salt and pepper and oregano. Stir then add the pasta.

CHICKEN MOROCCAN STYLE

I have a lot of Moroccan friends and I really don't dare pretend that this is a truly Moroccan recipe. It's something I thought of when we reached a time when we were completely tired of the same old food and started looking for new ways to cook the old ingredients. My mother started asking for cheese sandwiches, her way to tell me that she was bored. So I looked into my freezer and found a couple of chicken thighs and drumsticks. A brief tour of the pantry helped me come up with this recipe. Everybody liked it so much, that mom asked for leftovers the next day. (If you know my mother this is unheard of!!) So here it is:

- 3 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs
- 3 skinless drumsticks
- 2 tbsp frozen onion garlic mixture (or 1 small onion+ 2 cloves garlic finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 large carrot peeled
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp curry powder (or less, depending on how hot you like it)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup chicken stock (more if needed)
- 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/3 cup golden (white) raisins
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted.
- 1 cup dry couscous

In a large skillet mix the chicken with the onion and garlic, add salt and pepper. Let stand until you prepare the vegetables. Clean the green pepper and cut it into 1 inch pieces. Cut the celery in pieces about 1/2 inch, the carrot too. Add the oil to the skillet and brown the chicken over medium high heat on all sides. Reduce the heat to medium, add the veggies and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. Mix the cinnamon, the curry and the flour and add them to the skillet. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, stir. Then add the chicken stock. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in the raisins and the chickpeas and continue cooking until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Stir in the toasted almonds. Serve over the couscous.
TIP: You can prepare the dry couscous according to the package directions. Personally I just boil the amount of water needed, then add the grains, cover and let stand, then fluff with a fork. No fat or salt added. Sometimes my husband likes to eat the leftover couscous with some granulated sugar. It's a nice desert.

Brrr..can we have some soup?

Since the first blizzard back in December, snow keeps coming and coming with no end in sight. We desperately need something to keep us warm, and what better than soup.

Ahh delicious hearty hot soup in a bowl between your hands while you watch the snow come down from your window, all wrapped in the warmth of your house..
There are many kind of soups I can offer you, but I think that we should start with a soup that will really keep us warm and will also be so nutritious that it can be a meal on its own.

LENTIL SOUP

                                                    

This is the winter storm soup par excellence. It has lots of vegetables with the lentils, which makes it a perfect complete meal and it is also so creamy and smooth that it will satisfy all your needs and senses in this weather. Some people think it's a hassle to make, but I don't think so. You can simplify the recipe and eliminate the added fat , just as I did, and you will have an easy to cook delicious soup. The idea of it being difficult to cook came from the fact that back in the day, when blenders were not so easy to come by, my grandma used to process the soup in a vegetable mill that she operated by hand. So it took forever, and we had to wait for the really really cold days to have this soup. Now, with a blender in every kitchen, and also with the upright hand-held new blenders, you'll make it in minutes and will not even have to use a lot of pots because, as you'll see, it can all be made in the same pot. You'll need:

- 2 cups red lentils, picked, rinsed and drained
- 1 large carrot or 2 medium, chopped
- 3 to 4 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 2tsp ground cumin, more to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- chicken stock, or vegetable stock if you want it vegetarian, (optional)

- 1 handful of angel hair pasta or vermicelli, crushed

- plain croutons, or toasted pita wedges for serving

In a large pot, at least 5.5 qt, cover the lentils with water. Chop the vegetables, they don't need to be chopped in any special way, they'll cook and be pureed with the soup later. Add the vegetables to the pot, add salt and pepper and the cumin. Bring to a boil uncovered over high heat. Next comes the only difficult part: when your soup starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium and keep stirring frequently because it has a tendency to stick to the bottom, and we don't want to have lumps or burnt pieces in it.
Also check constantly to see if you need to add some more liquid to it. You can add water or the chicken or vegetable stock. I usually add chicken stock, but water is also fine. When all the veggies are done, (the lentils cook faster and will become just an orange soup around the vegetables, please don't worry about that) remove from the heat and let stand until it cools down so you can handle it more easily. If you have an up-right blender, go ahead and puree the soup in its pot until all vegetables disappear and you only have a creamy heavy consistency. If you use a regular blender, puree the soup in batches in the blender, transfer to another pot or bowl and continue pureeing until it's all done. Return the soup to the stove, and over medium high heat stir it constantly until it comes to a boil. During this process, make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom or sides of the pot, you can add more liquid, because it will be very thick. Add the crushed angel hair pasta, and keep stirring. When the pasta is done, adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and cumin to taste. You should feel the presence of the cumin but not in an overwhelming way. Your soup should be smooth and have a creamy consistency.
Serve with some croutons on the side or toasted pita wedges. I usually cut the pita bread in small triangles, put them on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, with no oil or fat added, just wait until they are golden brown and remove them from the oven, and let stand.
TIP: sometimes I don't have chicken stock on hand, so I simply add a cube or two of chicken or vegetable soup while I am stirring the soup in the final phase. Just remember that these cubes are rich in salt, so do that before you adjust the seasoning and wait until they are completely dissolved.

POTATO VEGETABLE SOUP

I first had this soup in a small Polish restaurant near my office. I liked so much, I kept coming back for it. But it was very heavy, so I thought of a way to replicate it without all the fat. I hope you'll like it too. You'll need:

- 3 to 4 potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 large carrot or 2 medium, chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1/2 bunch of fresh dill, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 cup skim milk, or 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp flour
- chicken or vegetable stock, enough to make the soup

In a large pot, pour 1 and 1/2 cup of stock, add the carrots and celery and bring to a boil. ( Please note that this time you should chop the vegetables in bite size, and try to make them all the same size as much as possible. Celery can be smaller). After 4 to 5 minutes add the potatoes and more liquid. Boil until all the vegetables are tender. In a small bowl, combine the skim milk and the flour, and beat with a fork until all the lumps are dissolved. Add the milk mixture to the soup and keep stirring to avoid any new lumps from forming. You will be happily surprised to see that the skim milk will thicken and form a creamy soup without any added fat. Stir for 5 more minutes, until the flour is fully cooked and you don't have this strange taste of uncooked flour. (You can use the sour cream instead of the milk and flour, stir it in the soup and let it cook over medium heat). Cut the dill sprigs and chop the fringes. add the dill to the soup, stir and remove it from the heat.

CHICKEN POTATO SOUP

This is another version of the potato vegetable soup. I first had it in Minneapolis, and for the first time I had the courage to ask the chef for the recipe. It was rather easy, but had a lot of fat ( I was sick all night that evening). So when I devised the way of cooking the potato soup without adding any fat, I thought: why not try it with the chicken potato soup? It worked. And here it is:

- 1 cooked chicken breast cut into small cubes
- 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- 1 cup skim milk
- 2 tbsp flour
- chicken stock enough to make the soup

Rinse and drain the wild rice and boil it in a small sauce pan until the grains open up. Drain and keep it on the side. In a large pot, pour about 1 cup stock, add the carrots and the celery and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Add the potato cubes, and some more liquid, and continue cooking. Before the vegetables are completely done, add the wild rice. Mix the flour with the skim milk and add to the soup. Stir to avoid any lumps. Add the chicken cubes, and stir. You will have a creamy soup with visible bits of vegetables and chicken. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

NOTE: All these recipes can be adjusted to your taste, put less carrots, more celery or potatoes, it's up to you. They can also be doubled in size or reduced to serve one or two people.

Again more veggies!!

If you think that this was all the veggies you can cook, you are wrong.
There are still a lot of ways to cook vegetables, especially in tomato sauce. The difference is that in the following recipes we'll use chopped tomatoes, so you'll be also able to see small bits of tomato within the vegetables.

ZUCCHINI IN TOMATO SAUCE

Growing up I didn't like zucchini. My parents, after a couple of tries, didn't push me and left it at that. So I went through life staying away from zucchini until some 7 or 8 years ago when I planted two zucchini plants in my back yard. I had one green zucchini plant and one yellow. All of a sudden we had an extraordinary crop with lots of zucchini. I gave some to my neighbour, some to my friends, and I still had a lot on my hands. I started slicing them and frying them. My mom like it very much, but how much fried zucchini can you feed her? So here I was one day sitting on my deck looking at the crop of the day: 3 beautiful green zucchini, a couple of bell peppers, 4 cucumbers and a lot of tomatoes. I kept admiring the fresh zucchini and thinking of how to cook them. Finally I thought: why not give it a try the old fashion way with these beautiful fresh tomatoes? Only then, I realized why I never liked zucchini. Back home zucchini had big seeds, and they were tough to cook, so they had to overcook them, and by the time the seeds were edible, the flesh was very mushy. Talk about the yukky factor. Realizing that the main factor in disliking zucchini was the consistency of the vegetable when overcooked, I thought of a way to avoid that. It was easy especially that zucchini here have so little seeds. And it came out delicious! You'll need:
- 3 green zucchini
- 1tbsp of finely chopped onions and garlic (the mixture that we froze earlier, the equivalent of 1/2 small onion and 1 or 2 garlic cloves)
- 3 or 4 tomatoes chopped or 1 can (15oz) of chopped tomatoes
- chopped parsley for garnish (I use flat leaf parsley)
- 1tbsp canola oil
- salt and pepper to taste

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, then each half again lengthwise. Then slice them into small triangles.
In a skillet combine the oil and the onion/garlic mixture with salt and pepper. Cook until translucent. Add the zucchini and some salt. Stir. cook for 3 or 4 minutes more, then add the tomatoes with their juice. Cook over medium high heat until the zucchini are tender, not mushy ( they should have a little bite to them, less than al dente).
Sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.
Note: If the tomato juice is not enough, you can add some chicken stock, just a little, until the zucchini are done. But first make sure that all the liquid has been absorbed before adding any. Sometimes the zucchini cook very quickly.

PEPERONATA

I noticed that most people treat bell peppers as a condiment. We put them in salads, we chop them and add them to our food, we even roast them and use them as garnish or add-ons to other dishes, but we almost never treat them as a main dish. It is a shame, because peppers are so delicious on their own. Here is how you can have a delicious dish made of peppers. You'll need:
- 6 peppers; 2 of each: red, yellow and orange
- 1 tbsp of the frozen onion and garlic mixture
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 can (150z) chopped tomatoes (or 3 to 4 fresh tomatoes chopped)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp capers rinsed (optional)
- 2 tbsp chopped basil or parsley

Remove the stem from the peppers, cut them open to remove the seeds and the white parts on the sides. Cut the peppers in strips lengthwise. In a large skillet, combine the onion mixture with the oil and cook until translucent. Add the peppers and some salt and pepper. Stir and let cook for a while. When they start to soften add the tomatoes and let cook until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the capers if you're using them, stir. Garnish with the chopped herbs and serve.
This peperonata can also be served at room temperature, and as an appetizer.
Note: If peppers don't usually agree with you, and you have always avoided them, don't worry, there is an easy solution to that: before you cut them, use a vegetable peeler to peel the transparent membrane of the peppers. It contains all the elements that cause your discomfort.
Also some people like to slice the onions almost the size of the peppers, you can do that too if onion slices don't bother you.

BASIC RICE RECIPE N.1

You can serve all these vegetables with a side of rice. But please don't boil your rice. I'll tell you how to make it tastier. This recipe is sometimes called pilaf, but I consider it my basic rice recipe because I never boil the rice, and seldom cook it just white. Also I use the long grain rice, but you can go ahead and use any kind of grain you prefer. You'll need:
- 1 cup of rice (rinsed and drained)
- 1 handful of angel hair pasta crushed
- 1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil (or 1/2 oil, 1/2 butter)
- 2 cups water or chicken stock ( or according to your rice instructions)
- salt to taste
In a non stick pot, heat the oil with the pasta and stir until golden brown. Add the rice and stir until you hear a cracking after all the liquid from the rice is absorbed (about 2 minutes). Add the liquid and salt and bring to a boil covered. When all the liquid is absorbed, stir the rice, reduce the heat to a very low setting, cover and let cook until done.

BASIC RICE RECIPE N.2
It is the same as the recipe N.1, but you'll substitute the angel hair pasta with orzo. Just a handful. You can adjust the liquid you'll add accordingly (meaning add a little bit more than the instructions require to cover the extra orzo. But not too much, you can always add more later if it needs so).

BASIC RICE RECIPE N.3
Again it is the same as recipe N.1, but you'll substitute the angel hair pasta with a handful of the same rice. Brown it and add the rest of rice. you'll have a one and one rice.

BASIC WHITE RICE
-1 cup of rice, rinsed and drained
- 1 tbsp oil
-2 cups water or chicken stock
-salt to taste
Heat the oil in a non stick pot. Add the rice, stir until you feel that the liquid from the rice is all absorbed. Add the water or chicken stock, and salt to taste. Cover and let boil. When the liquid is all absorbed, reduce the heat, stir and cover again until done.

More vegetables

Today I am going to help you cook more vegetables. It's a new twist on the previous recipes with different vegetables. They are all interchangeable, meaning you can cook them with or without meat, or you can change the meat in the recipe. Some of these veggies are not very popular, but please try them at least once, you'll like them.

CAULIFLOWER IN TOMATO SAUCE

                                                

Back home a head of cauliflower, or cabbage, was 24 inches in diameter and weighted an average of 4 kilos (about 9 lb). Cooking it was really a hustle: it was not easy to cut it into florets (it was almost as tough as a pumpkin), so you had to boil it first, then fry it and finally cook it in the sauce. The first time I saw our "regular" head of cauliflower I was in Paris. It was my first week-end and I went with a friend to the local Sunday farmers market of the neighbourhood. It was love at first sight. I even compared it to a bridal bouquet. But I couldn't get it that week-end, I waited til the next Sunday, when I had already moved into my own apartment, went down to the market and came back with my fresh "bouquet". The first time I cook it, I did it the traditional way, but I noticed that it was much easier to cut. I even peeled the root and ate it raw, something you could never do with the other cauliflower. It came out OK, but I felt it was overcooked and it easily fell apart. So I decided to cut the middle part of the recipe and just cook it in the sauce. The result was fantastic. So here it is:

-1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
-1/2 lb ground beef (the leanest possible)
-1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1can (15oz) tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the ground beef with the onions, the garlic and salt and pepper. Brown the beef over medium high heat stirring to prevent the beef from forming big chunks. When it's well browned, lower the heat and let it cook uncovered until all the liquid from the meat is absorbed. Add the tomato sauce and stir. Add the cauliflower, stir and bring to a boil. Lower the heat again and let cook until the florets are fork tender. Serve with rice and vermicelli pilaf.

You may have noticed that there is not added fat (butter or oil) in this recipe. The reason is that I feel that the ground beef, even if it is the leanest cut, is always fatty, so I cook it in its own juices and this is enough.

If you chose to make it completely vegetarian, simply omit the ground meat, and cook the onion and garlic for 2 or 3 minutes in a tbsp of oil, then add the sauce. You may serve it also as a side dish for a grilled steak.

                                                   

LIMA BEANS IN TOMATO SAUCE

It's the same recipe, just substitute the head of cauliflower with 2 packages of frozen Lima beans. I prefer the small beans.

SPINACH IN TOMATO SAUCE
This recipe follows the same idea, but is a bit different:
You'll substitute the cauliflower with 2 boxes of frozen chopped spinach.
Follow the recipe, until you add the tomato sauce. Add the spinach and bring to a boil. When you lower the heat add a small handful of uncooked rice. Cover and let cook until the rice is done.

POTATOES IN TOMATO SAUCE

                                             

This recipe is very similar to the previous ones.
You'll need 5 or 6 potatoes sliced in 1/2 inch thick slices, and instead of the ground beef or the cubes I prefer to cut the meat in strips 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. This way your potatoes and the meat will be almost the same size.
Use a shallow pan to spread the potatoes so they will cook evenly. Start by marinating the meat in onions and garlic, salt and pepper for 30 minutes, cook as usual. Add the tomato sauce and use the same can to add more liquid (water or stock). When the meat is tender but not fully cooked, add the potatoes in layers. Cover the pan. Try not to disturb the potatoes while they are cooking (they break easily), and add liquid if needed and stir it gently to distribute it evenly until they are fork tender.

TIP:
To save time and cook all your meals for the week, prepare a big pot of sauce doubling or tripling the ingredients and divide the sauce in different pots with different vegetables.
You can use 1 or 2 can of tomato sauce plus 1 large can of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes. Your sauce will be thicker and rich.

Eat your veggies!

This is something I never heard while growing up! The reason is very simple: there was never a discussion in our families about what to eat. The main meal was lunch (around 3 or 3:30 pm when all the family members would be home from school or work). And lunch was mainly a serving of protein, a serving of carbohydrates (rice, pasta and/or bread) and one or more servings of vegetables. Until now if I ask my mother what she wants to eat, her answer is invariably another question: what vegetables do we have?
And vegetables were prepared in a way that nobody would hate, you might not like one kind of vegetables, but not all of them. And my parents never tried to force us to eat the veggies. My mother would ask us to try them once, my father would give us a nudge to try them again, just to make sure, but if you don't like it, that was it.. you would be free to eat the other components of the meal, with some sauce of the veggies over your rice. So we all grew up eating vegetables, with some exceptions: I didn't eat zucchini, my oldest brother also didn't like zucchini and peas, my sister didn't eat okra, and my other brother ate everything.
Since I came to the States, I noticed that there is a whole industry based on how to hide the vegetables in the food of our children, which in my humble opinion is a very bad trend, since a child that is brought up this way will always think that he can go on living without eating vegetables. A child must learn to recognize the vegetables and learn to appreciate them and taste them. If he doesn't like one of them, so be it, there is no harm in that, he will have plenty of other vegetables to eat and like.
We should stop listening to ads claiming that vegetables taste "vegetably", meaning bad, so we have to eat something else, or maybe vegetables hidden under another food.
Also it was so funny when some years ago it was announced that according to a study cooked tomato sauce was very good for us, and the newswoman announcing that concluded that after all pizza was a healthy food and that we should eat more of it because it had a spoonful of tomato sauce!
When I watch how we prepare our vegetables I noticed two trends: 1- we either kill them by boiling them to death, or even for a few minutes to keep them al dente, but still they lose a lot of their vitamins and nutrients in the boiling water; 2- or we kill them again by covering them with cheese, of course to hide the vegetably taste !!
Also grilled or roasted vegetables can be a grown up taste or an acquired taste, that a child may not appreciate as we grownups do.
So what are we to do?
That's easy: I'll try to give here the recipes I grew up with, with a twist. Those are my grandmother recipes, but in a lighter version. As all grandmothers did, she used to cook with lots of butter, I don't.
So lets cook.
GREEN BEANS IN TOMATO SAUCE

This is the basic recipe for vegetables. You can prepare it as a vegetarian dish, or add meat to it. Just a reminder: all ingredients and quantities can be changed according to your taste. Personally I consider onions and garlic as condiments that help bring out the flavor of the food you are preparing, so I don't like to see chunks of onions or big pieces of garlic in my vegetables. This is why when I say "finely chopped" I mean almost liquefied.
- 1/2 lb beef cut in small cubes (optional)
- 1 and 1/2 lb french cut frozen green beans (1 and a half bag)
- 1/2 small onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce
- 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil ( enough to wet the onions)
- salt and pepper to taste

If you are using the meat, mix it with the onions, garlic, salt and pepper and let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the pot you are using to cook the meal. Add the oil and brown the meat over medium high heat. When the beef cubes are browned on all sides, add the tomato sauce, some water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer covered half way through til almost done. You may need to add more liquid if the meat is still tough. Add the frozen beans, bring again to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until the beans are done and the beef fork tender.
This is a good recipe to use a cheap cut of beef, since it will be cooked in sauce until it is very tender, and it will benefit from the taste of the vegetables.
If you prefer to go vegetarian, omit the meat, wet the onion and garlic with the tsp of oil, add salt and pepper, cook until translucent, then add the sauce, stir and add the beans.
TIP 1:
I always buy onions and garlic in bulk. When I have the time, I work them in the food processor until almost liquefied, put the mixture in small resealable bags, or sandwich bags, and freeze them. Make sure that the bags are not overstuffed, so when you need to use the mixture you can easily break the piece you need while still frozen.
TIP 2:
Frozen vegetables are easy to use and are a healthy alternative to fresh vegetables, especially when not in season.

PEAS AND CARROTS IN TOMATO SAUCE

Same as the above. Substitute the green beans with 1 bag (1lb) peas and 1/2 bag peas and carrots.