My poor dog-earred food magazines. All those little folded over corners which continue to suffer from neglect. This month, I must have marked at least 40 some recipes. Including one in the May 2008 Gourmet for Chile Peanuts. I don't even like peanuts. But, I fell in lust with the photo, and I love the combination of chile and lime. Enter the bag of pistachios that have been sitting on the counter, getting slowly nibbled away. Do you like pistachios as much as I do? The addictive process of popping them out of their shells. I'll just shell 10 more, I think, only to find myself a few minutes later repeating the same thing, just 10 more. I give the thin brownish purple skins a little pinch to expose the green nut meat. It's good that I enjoy the shelling process because I seem to eat almost as many as I'm going to need. For this recipe, I ended up with a healthy cup full... but who knows how many ended up in my belly along the way.

I think that this chile lime mixture would work well with almost any nuts... but I love the bright green color with the red spices from the paprika and chile. And the lime tang really wakes up the sweetness in the pistachios. These are the perfect little addictive snack to munch on if you are enjoying a little Cinco de Mayo cocktail as well.