Sugar Snap Peas & Roasted Baby Corn

I don’t feel like I spent that much time in the kitchen this weekend, but when all of the pictures on our camera are pictures of food I realized that I must have. The first recipe for the cookbook club that I made this weekend was the Sugar Snap Pease with Sesame. Because we enjoy the taste of sugar snap peas and think they are delicious on their own, I found it very hard to add ingredients to them. The sesame oil and seeds added quite a unique flavor to these peas. Obviously because of the minimal ingredients and zero cooking time, these are an easy and fast salad or side dish.

Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame page 105. I know that this isn’t a great combination but this was what was requested for dinner. I served the sugar snap peas with a pot roast with carrots and potatoes.

The second recipe for the cookbook club that I made this weekend was the Roasted Baby Pumpkins. Phil and I wanted a snack on Sunday afternoon while the football madness was running (over and over and over and over….). I was happy to retreat to the kitchen to make an afternoon snack. I had the small pumpkins around the house for seasonal decorations so I decided to make this dish with them. There is one change that I would make: substitute brown sugar for the salt and pepper. Salt, pepper, pumpkin and applesauce is just a weird combination. I made a couple like the recipe said and then did my own variation. While I’m not trying to sound pompous, I would strongly recommend cooking my variation with the brown sugar. This dish is beyond easy and so cute. If someone is having a Halloween party or hosting a large crowd for thanksgiving, this would be an adorable appetizer. Also you could roast the baby pumpkin seeds for another appetizer.

Roasted Baby Pumpkins filled with applesauce (page 153) before, during, and after