Southern Style Green Beans are melt in your mouth tender delicious. Cooking the beans low and slow with a ham hock gives these beans an irresistible subtle smoky flavor that really can’t be beat!

This Southern Style Green Beans recipe is my favorite way to cook green beans! I love the smoky flavor from the ham hock. The aroma that filled my home when I made these beans was irresistible! So not only will your house smell incredible, but you will have a dish that is so good it will make you want to cry it is that delicious!

I have always loved green beans. We ate them a lot growing up. I remember picking beans in my grandparents garden and our own garden at home. After we had picked the beans, we would help my mom wash, snap, and bottle the green beans.

For Sunday dinner we would open a bottle of green beans and a can of cream of mushroom soup. We would mix the two together, heat them up, and serve them. I think we had green beans with cream of mushroom soup pretty much every Sunday. We usually had roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy as well.

You know that saying, “Good things come to those that wait”! Well, that definitely applies to these beans. Yes, you simply can just open a can of green beans, throw them in a bowl, and heat them up in the microwave and be done. However, if you are willing to wait a little bit longer while the beans slowly simmer with the ham hock, you will be greatly rewarded!

With love from my kitchen to yours,

Carrie

Southern Style Green Beans

2 lbs of fresh French green beans, washed and trimmed

1 ham hock

6 cups of water

1 medium onion, diced

2 tsp. of garlic, minced (about 2 cloves)

1 tbsp. of butter

1 tsp. of kosher salt

1/2 tsp. of black pepper

Instructions

1. Place the ham hock, beans, and 6 cups of water in a large pot. Cover with lid and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 1 hour until beans are tender.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the onion and garlic in the butter until tender and translucent. Add the beans into the skillet. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the beans. Gently toss the beans to combine.

Here are  a few other recipes your might enjoy.

Creamy Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes

Autumn Harvest Salad with Creamy Pumpkin Dressing

Classic Stuffing

Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing is the traditional stuffing that we all know and love. This is my go-to stuffing recipe because it is simple, yet moist and flavorful.

Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing is one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. I look forward to eating the stuffing just as much as the turkey.

I love the simplicity of this recipe and that it still has all of the classic flavors you would expect for Thanksgiving stuffing.  If you like mushrooms, nuts, or dried fruit in your stuffing, go ahead and add it but it definitely is not necessary because this Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing can hold its own as is.

Whenever I think about my childhood Thanksgivings, two things come to mind.  My Grandpa carving the turkey and Grandma’s stuffing. I remember going over to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house for Thanksgiving. Their house always smelled absolutely amazing. My grandma was an incredible cook. Each year she would make the turkey and stuffing and everybody else would bring the other dishes.

There were a lot of family members that would come so we had to cram in their house. Later as the family continued to grow in size, we had to change our location to a church because that was the only building large enough to fit us all. Thanksgiving should be filled with family and lots of good food, don’t you think?

I like my stuffing soft and moist but not soggy. This is where the eggs come in.  The eggs help the stuffing to set up better.

If you want to save some time on Thanksgiving Day, you can cube the bread the night before and spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on baking sheets to dry overnight. If you don’t have to dry the bread out in the oven you can skip the first step in the recipe and save 25 minutes on Thanksgiving Day.

With love from my kitchen to yours,

Carrie

Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing

10 cups of french bread, sliced into 1 inch cubes

1/4 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups of onion, diced

1 1/2 cup of celery, diced

1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley. minced

1 tsp. of thyme

1 tsp. of rosemary

1 tbsp. of  fresh sage or 1 tsp. of dried sage

1/2 tsp. of black pepper

2 eggs

3 cups of chicken broth, divided

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325°. Spread the cubed french bread out evenly onto two baking sheets. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 25 minutes to dry the bread out.
2. Place the cubed dried bread into a greased 9×13 pan.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit.
4. In a medium sauce pan, sauté the onions, celery, and garlic in the butter until tender and translucent. Mix in the seasoning, fresh herbs, and 2 /12 cups of chicken broth.  Remove the pan from the heat.
5. In a bowel, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of  chicken broth with the eggs. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the cubed bread and gently toss.
6. Drizzle the onion mixture over the cubed bread and fold gently until thoroughly combined. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

Here are a few other recipes you might enjoy.

How to Brine a Turkey

Orange Cranberry Sauce

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie