Sugar snap peas (photo by Louis Hiemstra | IST).

Almost everyone loves peas, but few people serve snap peas—even though they’re available year-round.

Sugar snap peas are a cross-breed of the English pea and the Asian snow pea, delivering the best traits of both. Completely edible like snow peas (but with a crunchier pod), the sweet pea pods are filled with plump, round green peas.

And they’re a culinary bargain.

 
Sugar snap peas can be eaten raw or cooked (boiled, microwaved, steamed or stir-fried). They can be enjoyed plain, with a dab of butter or a sprinkle of soy sauce (we like a mix of low-sodium soy sauce and yuzu juice).

Try this recipe for Seared Wild King Salmon with Sugar Snap Peas, Avocado and Tangerine-Fennel Beurre Blanc. More ideas:

 
You’ll enjoy the “snap” in your recipes.
  

Our favorite of the five, Chex PB and Chocolate Blast, did not grab the gold. But here’s the recipe, made with Reese’s Pieces and white chocolate.

Karen Fisher’s winning Chex Cajun Kick snack mix recipe includes Creole seasoning and hot sauce.

(Future contestants please note: The 2009 winner was Buffalo Chex Mix with hot sauce. The recipe voters seem to like heat.)

You’ve got 15 minutes: Make some Chex mix. It can be made up to 2 weeks in advance.

CHEX CAJUN KICK RECIPE

Ingredients

• 2 cups Corn Chex cereal
• 2 cups Rice Chex cereal
• 2 cups Wheat Chex cereal
• 2 cups bite-size pretzel twists
• 2 cups mixed nuts
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (like Tabasco)

The winning Chex mix recipe adds spice
to football night or movie night. Photo
courtesy Chex.

You can start mixing now: It’s nine days to Super Bowl Sunday.

Turkey chili saves calories and fat.
Get the recipe from McCormick.

The choice is yours, but you can feast just as well on better-for-you food with the same amount of prep time. And no one will notice the difference.

We have suggestions from Carl Germano, RD, CDN, a Board-certified clinical nutritionist and the Chief Science Officer of Inergetics, makers of SURGEX, a muscle- and power-generating shake. As someone who spends his days focusing on nutrition, Germano recommends these switches.

Standard: Beef Sliders with Cheese
Smarter: Turkey Sliders with sliced tomato

Standard: Franks in Blankets
Smarter: Chicken Teriyaki Skewers

Standard: Fried Cheese Bread Sticks
Smarter: Sourdough Bread Bowl with Low Fat Spinach Dip (use nonfat Greek yogurt) and Crudités (raw vegetables)

Standard: French Fries, Onion Rings
Smarter: Baked Potato Skins with Tomato/Basil Bruschetta

Standard: Beef Chili with Shredded Cheese and Sour Cream
Smarter: Low Fat Turkey Chili with Black Beans, Corn & Salsa and Nonfat Greek Yogurt

Standard: Fried Buffalo Wings with Ranch Dip
Smarter: Baked Chicken Wings with Hot Sauce Dip

Standard: Regular Pizza with Pepperoni
Smarter: Whole Wheat Margarita Pizza

Standard: Chips
Smarter: Air Popped Popcorn, Whole Wheat Pretzels or Oat Pretzels

Standard: Cookie & Brownie Platter
Smarter: Fresh Fruit Platter

Standard: Beer, Soda, Juice
Smarter: Light Beer, Diet Soda, Flavored Seltzer, Mineral Water

You can have your cake and eat it too, thanks to Holey Donuts!. The secret is in the process: they use a method that takes 22 steps to make and avoids deep fat frying.

You can order donuts in just about type you can imagine, including filled donuts (our favorite and the best sellers) and filled donut holes.

What are you waiting for? Stock up!

• Read the full review.
• Who invented the donut?
• See many different types of pastry in our beautiful
  Pastry Glossary.

Low fat and delicious. Photo by River
Soma | THE NIBBLE.

America’s chocolatiers celebrate The Year
Of The Rabbit. Photo courtesy
Charles Chocolates.

Some of America’s chocolatiers have joined the festivities, creating special confections for the holiday: this year, celebrated on February 3rd.*

*Chinese New Year begins according to the Chinese calendar, which consists of both Gregorian and lunar-solar calendar systems. Because the track of the new moon changes from year to year, Chinese New Year can begin anytime between late January and mid-February.

To celebrate the Year Of The Rabbit, Charles Chocolates offers a gift set that includes a box of 10 orange ganache rabbits and a box of 20 tea-infused truffles, each topped with a Chinese character that indicates the type of tea inside. (If you don’t read Chinese, a guide explains which are baochong, jasmine, lichee, osmanthus and oolong.)

Purchase both boxes for $45.00 (a $5.00 savings) or the rabbits only for $20.00, at CharlesChocolates.com.

For Chinese New Year, the box is filled with five chocolate rabbits and eight honey and lemon pepper truffles. The milk chocolate rabbits are filled with a spicy almond ganache; the dark chocolate rabbits with tangerine ganache.

The box is stamped with a gold “Good Luck” wax seal and tied with a red-and-gold ribbon imprinted with “Gung Hay Fat Choy” in Chinese characters (which means “wishing you great happiness and prosperity”).

The box is $25.00 at BurdickChocolate.com.

Celebrate with either or both. Just be sure to get your order in now so the rabbits arrive in time for the Year Of The Rabbit.

Rabbits and truffles with elegant flavors.
Photo courtesy Burdick Chocolate.