Basic Pot of Pole Beans

Long, often flat, large green beans are sold in most grocery stores as "pole beans." Because they are tougher and more fibrous than regular green beans, they need to be cooked longer. Serve this basic side dish with anything you'd normally have with green beans.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 3  bacon slices
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 3  (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2  pounds  pole beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise

Preparation

Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion to drippings in pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add bacon, salt, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes or until beans are tender.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

63 (26% from fat)

Fat:

1.8g (sat 0.6g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.2g)

Protein:

4.1g

Carbohydrate:

8.8g

Fiber:

3.8g

Cholesterol:

3mg

Iron:

1.3mg

Sodium:

370mg

Calcium:

45mg