Fresh sugar snap peas are available almost year-round. We often buy them for a crudité platter, but don’t think to add them to salads.

This recipe is adapted from a tuna-less version at Robin’s Restaurant in Cambria, California, a seaside village in San Luis Obispo County. (All of the food looks great!)

RECIPE: FRESH SNAP PEA & TUNA SALAD

Ingredients For 8-10 Side Salad Servings

Use more snap peas in your salads! Photo courtesy Robin’s Restaurant.

1. TOSS all ingredients together and serve. It doesn’t get any easier than this!
 
*You can substitute shredded white Cheddar or crumbled goat cheese. Instead of cheese, substitute chicken, shrimp or other seafood.

Popular in Asian stir-fries, sugar snap peas, called snap peas for short, are a relative of the familiar, everyday English peas, also known as garden peas or green peas.

Both are pod peas, but English peas are removed from the pod; the pod of sugar snap peas is less fibrous, and edible when young. Mature snap pea pods may need to be “stringed,” removing the membranous string that running along the top of the pod from base to tip.

Sugar snap peas are a hybrid, developed in the 1970s by crossing Chinese snow peas with a mutant shell pea plant. This was done by Dr. Calvin Lamborn and Dr. M.C. Parker of Twin Falls, Idaho. Thanks, gents: We love sugar snap peas! [Source]

When purchasing, look for pods that are firm and crisp. They shouldn’t bend but should snap (hence the name). Don’t worry about any white scarring on the pod; it doesn’t affect the flavor, and depending on your point of view, adds visual interest.

With the goal of eating lighter, we love this idea from Ozery Bakery: the pita tartine.

Tartine is the French term for an open-face sandwich. In this version, Ozery piles on the healthful ingredients: black beans, radishes, grape tomatoes, red onions, greens and guacamole.

You can add:

 
For a spread, hummus adds protein; a slick of chipotle mayonnaise adds kick.
 
You can slice the pita in half horizontally for even less bread, or use a wrap. Then, roll and enjoy!

Family-owned Ozery Bakery started 15 years ago, its delicious products making their way to the U.S. in recent years. It was a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, and continues to be a favorite here.

Here are more tartine sandwich ideas.

Make single cups with smaller capsules, or a
small carafe with a larger capsule. Photo
courtesy Keurig Green Mountain.

The 2.0 is a game changer in the single-serve coffee category. It makes both single cups, and 28-ounce carafes; the latter provides a bit more than four six-ounce pours into eight-ounce cups. (Alternatively, it will fill almost three mugs, if you pour ten ounces of coffee into a 12-ounce mug.)

Here are the changes that may or may not affect you:

THE THREE KEURIG MODELS

The Keurig 2.0 Brewing System comes in three sizes, with an option that includes a variety of K-Cups and K-Carafe packs for an additional $10.

 
The differences:

 
Our philosophy is, when offered decisions like these, spend the extra few bucks and go deluxe. If you’re counting your dollars, you shouldn’t be paying more for coffee via a single cup system.
For more information, visit Keurig.com.

Really good, and ready to party. Photo
courtesy American Beverage Marketers.

Master of Mixes, a brand from American Beverage Marketers, and award-winning Food Network chef Anthony Lamas, have launched “Chef Inspired” Bloody Mary Mixes. We received samples last year, but saved them for January 1st, National Bloody Mary Day.

We’re sorry we didn’t enjoy them earlier. They’re excellent!

Quality fresh ingredients, and “unique” (per the company) spices, deliver an abundance of flavor in three varieties:

Chef Lamas, proprietor of the Louisville-based Latino/Southern restaurant Seviche, had a “farm fresh” concept in mind: a more palatable, flavorful, bright Bloody Mary mix. He has succeeded!

While one would think that the market didn’t need another Bloody Mary mix, truth be told, many of them are substandard. We typically mix our own—it’s pretty easy—but would happily use Master Of Mixes.

In fact, they’re so natural and flavorful, they make an excellent Virgin Mary, a.k.a. tomato juice cocktail, straight from the bottle.

About that bottle: It’s a pretty downscale design, given the high quality of the product inside. Don’t judge the book by its cover.

The mixes are available at major retailers in all 50 states, well-priced at $3.99/liter and $6.99/1.75 liter. To learn more, visit BoldFlavorAdventure.com. You can purchase Master of Mixes products online at MasterOfMixes.com.

American Beverage Marketers Inc., is a leading worldwide producer and marketer of cocktail mixes.

Yes, please! Photo courtesy American Beverage Marketers.

Make tomato soup with sundried tomatoes.
Photo courtesy Bella Sun Luci.

Winter tomatoes lack the deep flavor of summer tomatoes, but you can enhance that flavor with canned tomato purée or sundried tomatoes.

This tomato soup recipe uses both. It’s both comfort food and holiday food, with vivid red and green colors. If you prefer a creamy soup, we’ve got Sundried Tomato Cream Soup, below.

This recipe is courtesy Bella Sun Luci, sundried tomatoes grown in sunny California.

RECIPE: SUN DRIED TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients For 4 Servings (1 Quart)

Preparation

1. CUT the carrot, celery, onion and garlic into very small pieces. Simmer them in the vegetable stock until very soft, about 15 minutes.

2. ADD the rest of the ingredients, except the olive oil and the fresh basil. Simmer for 15 more minutes, then use an immersion blender or a food processor to purée with the olive oil (with a food processor, take care that the hot liquid doesn’t shoot out of the top). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

3. SERVE hot, garnished with the fresh basil leaves and optional crème fraîche/sour cream/Greek yogurt.

RECIPE: SUN DRIED TOMATO CREAM SOUP

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the drained tomatoes with 1 cup of tomato juice in blender or food processor; purée to a smooth consistency.

2. COMBINE the purée and the remaining cup of tomato juice in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.

3. COOK over low heat until thoroughly heated. Do not boil; it can curdle the cream.

Cream of sundried tomato soup. Photo courtesy Bella Sun Luci.

These are similar, but not exactly the same.

 
Because of the higher fat content, heavy cream will whip better and hold its shape longer than whipping cream. Therefore, it makes a difference with pastry fillings, piping, dessert toppings and other applications.

Whipping cream will still whip well, but it loses its body more quickly. In a recipe like soup, the stiffness doesn’t make a difference.
 
SUN DRIED VS. SUN-DRIED VS. SUNDRIED VS. OVEN-DRIED: THE DIFFERENCE

Any of the three spellings of sun dried is correct. What’s more important is the meaning: sun dried tomatoes are dried naturally in the sun, over the course of 4–10 days. They are usually pre-treated with salt or sulfur dioxide to improve quality.

The drying process gives them a long shelf life, since most of the moisture, on which bacteria thrive and cause decay, is removed. They can also be preserved in olive oil or other vegetable oil.

Another technique to dehydrate tomatoes for preservation is oven drying. This is done at the lowest heat setting for 1-3 hours. If you have a bumper crop of tomatoes, or there’s a big sale on tomatoes, you can use this technique to create homemade dried tomatoes.