Thanksgiving prep starts with this successful audition of a green-bean recipe

It happened again—diversion. I swear by anything Prevention magazine says or features, so when a must-try recipe appears, I can't help myself. I have to stop everything and work it into my schedule. You've already read about how a change in plans derails me. Consider me derailed, but in a good way.

The culprit this time was a recipe for Best-Ever Green Beans. For its current issue Prevention asked a group of famous chefs to suggest their dream Thanksgiving dinner. Legendary cook and author Jamie Oliver produced this recipe, adapted from his book Jamie's Food Revolution. The Prevention article quotes Oliver as saying that even the pickiest kid in the family will pass on his plate for these beans. I love it. The beans are said to be a "107-calorie side" dish that can be served for 86-cents per person. Low-cal, healthy, inexpensive, and creative--that's what I call a super dish!

We didn't wait until Thanksgiving but prepared them for last night's meal to accompany meat loaf. What a great side! I feel sure that at a later date they'll reappear on our table to accompany a turkey. Puts that ole TG standby green-bean casserole in the shade!

Best-Ever Green Beans (Jamie Oliver)

1 1/4 pound green beans

pinch of salt (or salt substitute)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the shredded variety, not the kind in a can)

1/2 lemon

Line up green beans on a chopping board. Cut off the stalks and leave the wispy ends as they are. Put the beans into a large saucepan of boiling water with the pinch of salt and cook for about 6 minutes. Try one of the beans. If it's soft and not squeaky when you eat it, they're done. Drain them in a colander; reserve some of the cooking water, and set beans aside to steam dry. Put the pan in which you boiled the beans back on the heat. Add the oil and the garlic. Give it a stir. When the garlic starts to turn golden, add the beans and jiggle the pan around to coat them in the garlicky oil. Add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water, the Parmesan, and the juice from the half lemon. Stir and simmer until the water and cheese start to form an oozy, sticky sauce; then remove from the heat and serve immediately. Serves 8.

Stir-fry veggies add healthy touch to efforts to replicate time-honored baked fish recipe

Recently I mentioned how our route to the downtown hospital in which our grandbaby was born took us past the scene of the old Casa Linda Wyatt's cafeteria, where my parents took me to dine at least once a week as I grew up. I mentioned my affection for carrot salad, which always has seemed like a taste of heaven and which I've never been able to replicate--or even move close to it--in my own kitchen.

Another Wyatt's staple during that era was its baked fish with a piled-high crusty topping of crushed almonds and bread crumbs. Carrot salad, baked fish, Wyatt's inimitable green beans, and a layer chocolate cake--those were my selections in the cafeteria line. Those choices never varied. How I longed now to be able to prepare something akin to that fish entree as well!

A few years back Family Circle magazine helped my cause by printing a recipe for Nut-Crusted Fish Fillets with Stir-Fry. The herbed bread-crumb-and-almond topping absolutely made the flounder underneath it to die for. Just last week I turned to this long-preserved-but-yet-untried recipe in my binder. With the deed accomplished, I thought I was back in the cafeteria line and dining at Wyatt's again in the secure company of my parents, one on either side. Precious memories!

Healthening-up this Family Circle recipe is the inclusion of the stir-fried vegetables ("stir-fry" being surely unheard-of, at least in my family, in my growing-up days). Green beans and matchstick carrots made the dinner complete, not to mention colorful as everything.

Nut-Crusted Fish Fillets

4 slices reduced-calorie wheat bread

1/3 cup sliced almonds, chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

4 flounder fillets, about 6-ounces each

Stir-Fry:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 gloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 carrots (1/4 pound), peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 large scallions, chopped, for garnish

lemon slices, for garnish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. Place bread in bowl of food processor; whirl until fine crumbs are formed. In a small bowl combine crumbs, chopped almonds, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Stir in olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest until all ingredients are moistened. Season fish with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Fold fillets in half and place in prepared baking dish. Spoon 1/4 of the bread topping over each fillet. Bake in 400- degree oven for 17 to 19 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Stir-Fry: While fish is baking, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add green beans and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Stir-fry for 14 to 16 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. If skillet gets too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water. Serve fish with stir-fry vegetables. Garnish with scallions and lemon slices.