Fish - Chips + Veggies!

As a newly burgeoning chef who once gave herself a horrific episode of food poisoning, I am always cautious when cooking meat. Chicken is my safe zone, and even then I tread carefully. Luckily, many groceries come in a variety of pre-cooked and frozen options that allow me to ease my transition into real cooking. Today I decided to make myself some fish sticks. They're quick, easy, and vaguely healthy. My fish sticks of choice were Ian's "All-Natural Allergy-Friendly" fish sticks. They were actually not the best fish sticks I've had, and I kind of cheated and microwaved them, but I made it up in the extra helpings of veggies.

First, I bought some fresh green beans forever ago at the farmer's market. I have never cooked green beans by myself before, but I helped my mother and aunt cook them enough that I know you have to rip off the ends or something. I think you're also supposed to take out that middle stringy part also, but I didn't want to get too complicated. Here, you can see the prepped string beans on the left, and the to-be-prepped beans on the right:

Next, I broke out my trusty Key Food brand canned corn (unsalted!). Of course, only I could mess up heating up canned corn. I wasn't watching it too carefully and some kernels split. Idiot moment but they were still delicious. 

After boiling the green beans for about 10 minutes in salted water, I drained them, then threw them back in the hot pot with a sliver of (unsalted) butter, salt, and pepper. Stirred em up and voila! Fresh cooked green beans!

Altogether I ended up eating more vegetables than fish sticks, which is fine with me. The green beans aren't as flavorful as the corn, but you could always add more butter to both veggies. In my research (aka: googling "how to cook green beans"), a lot of people seem to really dig adding bacon and/or toasted almonds to their green beans. I had neither in my kitchen but I'm sure it is delicious both ways (especially the bacon route). May have to try it next time, but it was definitely a good start. And of course, I have some leftover corn and green beans for tomorrow... or tonight.

Tips for Enjoying

• Again, give yourself veggie options. Like I said, the green beans were not that flavorful, but I always love corn so it was nice having that to go to when I got a little tired of the greens.
• If you're not as health conscious, be generous with the butter. It really does make everything better, particularly corn and green beans. Same goes for bacon fat.
• Add some salt. I probably didn't add enough (about two cranks from my salt grinder). It does bring out the flavor since green beans can be bland.

- V