Sweet and Spicy Green Beans

These Chinese style green beans have a secret ingredient: honey. We know the importance of honey in the Sunnah; the Prophet (s) loved honey, and he used it to cure many ailments including stomach illness. He advised a man who had stomach issues to take honey. The man returned to him and told him that his stomach was still hurting, and the Prophet was so confident in the healing power of honey that he told the man that his stomach was lying to him. I was also told that eating local honey (honey made from bees in your local area) is a great way to build your immune system against local allergens. I try to eat a teaspoon of honey everyday. I really feel the difference when I eat it consistently. I use honey instead of syrup on my waffles, and I sometimes put honey in my tea. When I have a sore throat, I take a spoon full of honey with a couple drops of lemon juice and sprinkle a little black pepper on top. My brother unpeels a whole banana, puts it on a plate, and drizzles it with honey and eats it with a fork!

My husband, on the other hand, still needs to warm up to honey. When he was sick, I used to have to shove the spoon in his mouth in order for him to take honey. I got the Sue Bee Pure Clover honey from Sam's club and he seems to like it a lot better. The texture is not as thick and viscous as other honey. If you don't like the taste or texture of honey, this is a great way to hide it in your food, and it adds a nice flavor!

Ingredients:

Green beans, washed
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsps honey
2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps of your favorite hot sauce (I used chili garlic sauce)
2 tbsps olive oil
1/2 tbsp garlic ginger paste

1. Set a pot of water to boil. Cut the stems off the green beans and cut them in half. Boil green beans for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium pot or frying pan. Fry garlic and ginger paste and onions until onions are translucent.

3. Drain green beans and add to onions. Add in the other sauces and honey and cook on medium for another 10 minutes, or until green beans are tender. I don't like to cook green beans until they are too soft and mushy, I like them to have some firmness to them.