Remember your mom's green bean casserole, with frozen green beans and french fried onions from a can? Put it on a shelf. After you try this version, amped up with fresh thin green beans, caramelized onions, and sauteed fresh mushrooms, you'll never go back. It's still an easy fix, and yes, it still includes a little canned cream of mushroom soup and a few of those french fried onions, but it's a lot healthier than the original version, and it's got lots more flavor too.

If fresh green beans are hard to find in your local grocery store during the holidays, try Costco - the Los Angeles stores have two-pound bags of trimmed green beans all year round, always crisp and sweet.

More holiday favorites: Braised red cabbage * Creamy cauliflower soup * Roasted beets

Fresh green bean casserole with mushrooms and onions

• 2 lbs fresh green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 4 cups sliced mushrooms, any kind
• 2 cans low-fat or fat-free concentrated cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 cup canned french fried onions (try Trader Joe's no-trans-fats product)
• 1/2 cup low-fat or fat-free milk
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in the green beans and blanch them 4-5 minutes, until the beans are softening but have not turned mushy. Drain and place the beans in a large mixing bowl.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions and mushrooms until they are softened and golden brown. Add the vegetables to the green beans in the bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To the bowl, add the cream of mushroom soup, fried onions, milk, and lots of pepper. (You won't need to add salt; the soup and the fried onions are salty enough.) Mix thoroughly, turn into a casserole dish, and bake 40 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbling. Serve hot.