Julia Child has a recipe in Mastering Vol. II for a fresh
pea soup that utilizes the pods.

Broth. Jane Grigson has a beautiful chapter on green peas in her book "Good Food". Her work is a gold mine.:)

Blanch the pods in boiling water for a minute, then quickly cool in ice water. Whiz pods and some of the cold water in your food processor, then strain through a sieve. Use resulting very green broth to make green pea risotto that tastes like summer.

Pea pods are a great addition to any light vegetable broth. I wouldn't put celery in that broth, or at least not much celery, as its strong flavor would overwhelm the pods. I really like lapadia's suggestion of cutting into slivers and adding for color and flavor into another vegetable salad, as you would tiny sugar snaps or snow peas. Or, you could toss them into a noodle salad with Asian flavors, which is what I often do with sugar snaps. They add such a nice spark of color!

Some of the pods are so sweet; I use them in salads, making sure to take off the stringy part (if needed) and then I either sliver them or make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts - depends on the recipe I am using them with. The last ones were great slivered in an oil based potato salad.

The idea of broth is a great idea although I am not sure it would be that flavorful. My pods go to the chickens. I am going to have to try the broth idea though.