Cheye's Summer Green Bean Salad

Yesterday I got to spend the day with my sister and niece.  We are getting together again today for a family reunion.  Since they are staying in a hotel for the night, we got to talking about what we were bringing.  My niece, Cheyenne, loves to cook.  She told us that she wanted to make a green bean salad.  Without a kitchen it would be difficult.  So as a wonderful aunt, I offered to make it.

I asked her to tell me the recipe and she ended up typing the ingredients into my phone so I could make it. She is John's kind of cook, because there were only amounts and instructions to add spices till it tasted right. So in Cheye's honor, here is her salad.  Hope she likes it!

We started with fresh green beans.  I love fresh green beans so much!  The difference from canned ones is night and day.  It is almost as if they aren't the same vegetable.

I don't have a shot of us cutting off the ends.  I had a pile of them and was cutting them one by one and John so diplomatically asked if that was how I was doing all of them.  Next thing I know another knife appears and he is chopping five at a time.  So efficient!

We blanched the green beans.  Cheye said they have to be al dente!  And then asked if I knew what al dente meant.  (She was a culinary student!)  I assured her I knew and put John in charge.  We boiled the water and then dipped them in for a short bath...maybe a minute.

After they cooked, (we did it in two batches), we put them in an ice bath to cool down fast and stop the cooking.

John had already fried up the bacon.  Everything is better with bacon.

Cheye had me sold on this recipe as soon as she said bacon!

We added a combination of Miracle Whip and mayo.  After tasting it, I would probably just do mayo.  It was a little sweet for my taste.  Cheye said we could use either.

Add the bacon.

Then we seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  It is hard to tell when you are shaking it out. 

John folded it carefully to keep the beans whole.  This was about a pound of beans which looked like a lot at the store, but we could have made three times as much with no extra trouble.  Next time!

Here it is ready to cool down and take to the reunion!  Hope I made it right Cheyenne!!!