Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

Crunchy blistered sugar snap peas take mere minutes to make but their flavor is outstanding, with garlic, chili peppers, soy sauce and sesame oil.

I love stir-fried vegetables as either a main dish or side because they are so quick to cook. The prep is what takes the time, peeling, chopping and cutting all the vegetables beforehand. I use most vegetable stir-fries as a veg drawer cleaning exercise so there’s lots and lots of prep! 

But that’s why I love this dish even more. Just one item – very little chopping, just the garlic and peppers - and I find the prep - removing the hard strings - therapeutic. I turn a comedy (or cooking show) on tv and well before the half hour show can finish, the snap peas are stringed and ready to cook! 

Lately I’ve been watching Junior Bake Off which is brilliant. The kids are aged nine through 12 and they are amazing bakers already! I can’t even imagine how good they’ll be when they are grown up and can compete in the Great British Bake Off. 

My set up:

This year for the Alphabet Challenge, as an added personal challenge, I decided I would dip into the many, many recipe files I've been saving for years and actually make some of them! I have no idea where I got this one but it's from a Word doc I created in 2018. It's so easy AND tasty, why did I wait?!

My first post for A, the roasted asparagus soup, I saved in 2011! 🙄

Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

Don’t have sugar snap peas? Substitute small broccoli florets or even snow peas. Either one works well in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 lb or 450g fresh sugar snap peas

1-2 small red chili peppers (depending on your tolerance/love of pepper)

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Optional garnish for spice lovers: sliced red chili peppers

Method

Use a sharp knife or a clean fingernail to remove the top of the strings from the snap peas, pulling the whole string free. Discard.

Mince the red chili peppers and garlic. Measure out your soy sauce and sesame oil so you are ready to pour them in quickly. 

Heat a non-stick pan till very hot then add the snap peas. 

Cook till blackened in places, tossing occasionally so they cook on all sides. Add the chopped chili peppers and garlic, stirring quickly. 

Sprinkle on the soy sauce and then sesame oil, tossing to coat. And they are done!

Garnish with a few slices of red chili pepper, if desired. Serve immediately, 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 2nd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter B. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the B recipes below:

• Culinary Cam: A Belated Birthday Bûche De Noël (Yule Log) 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Barley Salad 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Bhune Mutton Paya 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Black Bean Sweet Potato Skillet 
• Food Lust People Love: Blistered Snap Peas 
• A Messy Kitchen: Blueberry Basil Cocktail/Mocktail 
• Blogghetti: Boiled Peanuts 
• Magical Ingredients: Buffalo Cauliflower Paneer Dip 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Chocolate Espresso Rainbow Brownie Cookies
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Coconut Brigadeiros 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: White Bean and Basil Salad

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas – this post!

Pin these Blistered Sugar Snap Peas!

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Sprouted Spelt Banana Walnut Muffins #BreadBakers

Made with one of the ancient grains, these sprouted spelt banana walnut muffins have a wonderful nutty flavor and a mellow sweetness from the banana and brown sugar. 

Hard to believe but my fellow Bread Bakers and I have been baking together once a month for more than 10 years! We’ve lost some members and gained others over the years but I love their enthusiasm each December when I ask for hosts and themes for the new year. 

To take the pressure off, I usually volunteer for January and so it is this year as well. I chose ancient grains as our main ingredient because we hadn’t used them as a group since January 2016. Seemed about time to revisit that theme! 

Sprouted Spelt Banana Muffins - Small Batch

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins but it is easily doubled if you need a full batch of 12. Right at the end, I decided to fold in some chopped walnuts so I was going to make those optional but they were such a good addition that I changed the name of my muffins!

Ingredients

1 cup or 120g sprouted spelt flour

1/3 cup, packed, or 66g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

1 very overripe banana (mine weighed 92g without peel)

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 28g chopped walnut halves, plus six more to top, if desired.

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by brushing it will a little canola oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the banana, milk, oil and egg. Mash the banana with a fork. Then use the fork to mix the four together thoroughly. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl. Fold until well combined. 

Add the chopped walnuts and fold again until combined.

Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups. Top each with a single walnut half, if using. Set a timer for five minutes and leave the muffin pan to rest on the counter. 

Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven then decrease the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C WITHOUT opening the oven door, and bake for 15-18 minutes more until domed and set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached.

Let cool for a few minutes then remove to the wire rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s Bread Baker time. As I mentioned above, this month I’m hosting and I’ve chosen ancient grains as our theme. Check out the breads with ancient grains my fellow bloggers are sharing below.

• Bajri Tilachi Bhakri from Sneha's Recipe
• Banana Millet Bread from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Banana Oat Pancakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Khapli Wheat Roti from Cook with Renu
• Milled Ancient Multigrain Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Peanut Butter Ancient Grain Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Spelt and Poppyseed Sourdough Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spelt Coconut Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sprouted Spelt Banana Walnut Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Sprouted Spelt Banana Walnut Muffins! 

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Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

This olive cream cheese stuffed celery is a throwback recipe from the Sixties but it’s still just as deliciously tasty today. Savory, creamy AND crunchy. Mix, fill and munch! 

Not too long back, a friend of mine celebrated her 60th birthday by throwing a Sixties theme party. Guests were asked to contribute a dish from that decade and come dressed in Sixties attire. 

The fun food included salmon mousse made in a fish mold, deviled eggs, several Jello desserts, a spiky cheeseball shaped like a hedgehog, a multi-layered savory sandwich “cake” and pistachio marshmallow fluff, just to name a few. 

It was a super fun party and a delight to see what everyone brought and wore. At first I thought I didn’t have anything to wear that was Sixties worthy but then I remembered, I own a caftan! We need to bring those back. It is the most comfortable outfit ever for a party.

Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

This recipe makes a bunch of filling! My pictures show just half of the stuffed celery I made. Feel free to halve the quantities if you don’t need that many. I used the already cut celery stalks one can buy in a bag. 

Ingredients

2 lbs or 900g celery stalks, washed and cut into 3 sections each

2 packages (8 oz or 225g each) cream cheese, at room temperature

¾ cup, chopped, or 120g pimento-stuffed green olives

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

A few generous grinds of black pepper

Method

Thoroughly dry each piece of celery with paper towels. 

Mix the  chopped olives and garlic together in a large bowl.

Add in the cream cheese and black pepper in and mix until completely homogenous.

Use a plastic bag with a corner cut off or a piping bag to put a generous amount of cream cheese filling down the center indentation of each celery piece. 

Serve immediately or cover with cling film and refrigerate till ready to serve.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today my blogger friends and I are sharing nutritious nibbles. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm. Check out the links below. 

• Culinary Cam: Adventures in Bliss Balls 
• Sneha's Recipe: Beetroot Tikkis 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories : Fresh Tomato Salsa 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Fruit and Nut Bars 
• Our Good Life : Healthy Pizza Bites 
• Food Lust People Love: Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Peanut Butter Energy Balls (No Bake)

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this olive cream cheese stuffed celery! 

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