Grilled Parmesan Beans with Creamy Garlic Dip

Oh the goings on behind the scenes. If you could have watched this recipe come into being, you could have seen my words from last week about interruptions come to life. During the making of this recipe, there was also prepping of the boys for an adventure, my parents dropping by (which is not a complaint mom, just a note of what happened, come over all the time! 😉), boys coming back very early from the adventure due to an accident, cleaning up said accident, a small grill fire, and the maker becoming very hot & bothered, because summer…and fire…and running around like a crazy lady. My *favorite* is when people tell us how lucky we are to get paid to just take pictures of things we make. Yup, that’s it…just snapping a few pictures and then we’re done. 😜 Really though, I do love what I do, or I wouldn’t put up with all the craziness of it, but ya never really do know what’s going on behind all those blog photos…I made this dish last summer and loved it and never got around to sharing the recipe then. I’ve been waiting for the fresh green beans to be ready so I could start making this again. We have a gentleman farmer that lives around the corner from us and he has a killer garden every year and I love watching him work on it (when I need some motivation, I just go drive by his house and watch him working away in the summer heat and then get my rear in gear! He’s like 70’s, early 80’s (?) – I hope he doesn’t read this and feel offended, ha! – so he’s definitely inspiring for my lazy days!). I also love all the fresh produce I can get – like these beans, right around the corner, without having to garden myself (one of my most detested chores – come look at my overgrown gardens if you need to see it to believe it). I usually only make this with green beans, but he had some yellow wax beans out, so I decided to throw those in as well. These are a perfect summer side dish, and can be made even healthier by leaving out the dip. (I’m a dip with everything kind of girl, so…). I would add in a little minced garlic to the olive oil that coats the green beans if you’re not going to make the dip.Grilled Parmesan Beans with Creamy Garlic Dip

Creamy Garlic Dip

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Whisk together ingredients. Taste and adjust as desired. Refrigerate for at least one hour or until ready to use. (Use within 24 hours).

Grilled Parmesan Green Beans

1-1.5 pounds fresh green beans (and/or yellow wax beans)
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheeses, shredded

Trim green beans. In a large bowl, toss beans with olive oil and salt pepper until beans are thoroughly coated. Heat grill to medium heat. Grill beans in a vegetable tray/basket, stirring occasionally, until lightly charred and tender (about 5-7 minutes). Sprinkle with cheese, serve immediately with creamy garlic dip.
What are your favorite things to grill? While you’ve got the grill fired up for the beans, you might as well try out these Grilled Peach S’mores for a yummy dessert to enjoy!

-Manda