Green Bean City

Earlier this year, our area experienced a quazi-drought and while everything continued to grow, it was a slow process.  As the blossoms were appearing on the beans, the dryness came and it stunted their growth.  My harvest at that time was about 14 pounds.  I thought the beans were about finished.  Then the rains came.... and a month later the beans decided to go wild and already at another 14 pounds with possibly that many more to go have been picked.  Hubby loves beans.  So this year I'm learning new ways to use up the green beans.  We've made many fresh and gobbled them up, and I froze a couple bags but am not a fan of frozen green beans.  I'm not canning them because of the need for pressure canning (and I don't have a pressure canner).   Earlier this week, I found a recipe in the Ball Canning cookbook for Pickled three bean salad.  Bingo!  I used two beans and subbed the kidney beans for the limas since my limas aren't quite ready yet (they too are experiencing a re-growth and I may be overrun with lima beans in another two weeks also).  The results were incredible.   I told hubby I found a new way to use up green beans.  Last evening, while picking the beans, I decided to make ham, green beans and potatoes today and thought why not make a BIG pot and freeze some?  So that's what's on tap for this weekend.   Oh the mighty green bean... and everything else in the garden.  Love it!