As with other nuts, you may find a variety of pine nuts available in your local grocery store. Toasted, salted, dry-roasted, raw, and even seasoned varieties are available in markets today. Be sure to look for pine nuts that are raw or dry-roasted, which means they’ve been roasted without any added oils or fats. Though I normally prefer dry-roasted, here they’ll toast in the pan, which will give the dish great flavor. To trim peas, just break off the stem end and strip the string away from the edge. It’s a great project for the kids.

　　

Ingredients

makes 2 generous servings

　　1/4 teaspoon olive oil

　　1/2 pound snow peas or Chinese peas, trimmed and strings removed

　　1 tablespoon dry-roasted or raw pine nuts (sometimes called pignoli)

　　1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic

　　1/4 teaspoon toasted or roasted sesame oil

　　1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint leaves

　　Sea salt, to taste

　　

Step 1

Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, peas, pine nuts, and garlic. Cook them, stirring occasionally, until the snow peas are crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes (do not overcook them or they will get mushy). Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the sesame oil and mint. Season with salt. Serve immediately.

　　

nutrition information

Step 2

Each (heaping 1-cup) serving has:

　　

Step 3

Calories: 95

　　

Step 4

Protein: 3g

　　

Step 5

Carbohydrates: 10g

　　

Step 6

Fat: 4g

　　

Step 7

Trace Saturated Fat

　　

Step 8

Cholesterol: 0mg

　　

Step 9

Fiber: 3g

　　

Step 10

Sodium: 14mg

　　Reprinted with permission from I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! by Devin Alexander. Copyright © 2010 Devin Alexander. Published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.Devin Alexander is the author of The Most Decadent Diet Ever, Fast Food Fix, and coauthor of The New York Times bestsellers The Biggest Loser Cookbook and The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. She was a chef on NBC's The Biggest Loser and the host of Healthy Decadence on Discover Health and FitTV.