Spicy Stuff

My freshman year in high school I had a steady job babysitting two little boys, Kevin (5) and William (3). We played with action figures, went to the park, ate pizza --- in fact other than having to remember not to let them drink anything after dinner (bed wetters not gremlins) I had a pretty good time with the little guys. What set this apart from other babysitting jobs, was that Kevin and William were totally obsessed with the Spice Girls. That’s right… Among the GI Joes, Matchbox cars and Power Rangers were Barbie sized figurines of Sporty, Baby, Posh and Scary. All I had to do whenever Kevin was cranky or William was crying was pop the Spice World movie into the VCR and an awesome hour-long dance party inevitably ensued. Nothing was more amusing than when I found the two fighting in their playroom yelling things like “No! I get to be Sporty!” So in honor of my two little friends who are hopefully stealing hearts on the high school dance floor, here’s a jalapeno flavored dish to spice up your life!



One Pan Hotness, Spicy Cabbage and Chicken - adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Chile Cabbage recipe

Ingredients
- Leftover roast chicken (about 2 cups of breast) – you can also buy a pre-roasted chicken from the supermarket or use grilled chicken
- Green cabbage
- 2 jalapeño peppers
- 15 shiitake mushrooms
- 1 red onion
- 1 red pepper
- Apple cider vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Dark sesame oil
- Pam

Prep – some chopping
-Slice jalapenos pepper into small rounds
-Take off stems of the mushrooms and throw them away- slice the tops of the shrooms into thin slices
-Cut cabbage into small squares or strips
-Until you have about 3 cups worth
-Chip onion into small pieces or strips
-Chop left over chicken into bitesize pieces
-Chop red pepper into little pieces

Sauce – Mix together in a little cup or bowl
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
- 1 half tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 half tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Cooking – one pan, very easy
-Put a large pan over medium heat and spray generously with Pam
-Sauté jalapenos in Pam 2 minutes then add in the mushrooms and red pepper.
-Cook these together for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are limp and golden
-Push these to the far side of the pan and re-spray the rest of the pan with Pam
- Add the cabbage to the middle of the pan and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Cook cabbage for 5 minutes and flipping a couple times so bottom pieces don’t burn.
- Mix cabbage and sidelined mushrooms and Jalapeno and stir all together. Cover and cook for 2 minutes (stirring once so bottom doesn’t burn.)
-Pour sauce over mixture, add chicken pieces and mix everything up. Cook for 4 more minutes.
- Pour everything into a big bowl, turn up the pan to high heat and spray more Pam on pan.
- Put chopped onion in pan and cook till browned, 3-4 minutes, flipping so they don’t burn.
- Pour onions into the bowl with everything else.
-Drizzle a tablespoon of soy sauce over the mixture, mix up everything.

Serve alone or with rice if you can’t handle the hotness.