Cabbage and Spam Soup (Vivi)

This is a really fast soup that I made when I was in a hurry to make dinner before my family came home. It's pretty dang healthy, and REALLY cheap, especially if you just toss in whatever vegetables you got on sale in the supermarket. It can also be made vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for chicken, and using firm marinated tofu instead of SPAM. Plus, the garlic and chili is good for sinuses, so it's a good recipe for cold weather or when the family starts exhibiting symptoms of cold.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or whatever oil you like. I just use what I have)

6 cups of low/ no sodium chicken broth (I make my own from chicken bones, but canned is alright for other people's tastes)

half of medium cabbage, shredded

two cloves of garlic, crushed

one whole onion, chopped

two large potatoes

one can of Light Sodium SPAM, diced

any other vegetables you may want to toss in

pepper to taste

crushed red pepper to taste

oregano to taste

Directions:

1. Brush the oil onto a deep pot and saute/caramelize the onions and garlic, shredding the cabbage and chopping up your other vegetables. The vegetables should all be cut up about the same size so they all cook evenly.

2. pour in the 6 cups of broth into the pot and add in all the vegetables. Heat it to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer until potatoes are tender, but not mushy. Sprinkle in the spices to taste.

I made brown rice to serve with the soup, as the soup itself isn't very filling for a family of 5, as well as the fact that brown rice is delicious and very healthy for you. If you make it in the rice cooker, and you put it to make when you started the soup, that is the amount of time it should take for the soup to be done. Enjoy~

Deliciously served in my Kitty Soup Mug<3

Like flames right out of hell coming from your mouth! (Vivi)

OK, so I'm not sharing a recipe this time, but a life changing experience. I'm talking about Wing Stop's Atomic Wings. You heard me. Atomic. And they're not lying on the menu either.

The Atomic Wings

I might be a little late in reviewing this restaurant, as it's been out for years, but this is the first time I've been to one. And being the adventurous eater that I am, as well as being the proud owner of a 50% Mexican stomach that can take a jar of jalapenos without anything to wash them down, and eats fresh jalapeños or broiled Serrano peppers with tortillas for the kicks.

Regardless of that, This half beaner was still a bit nervous when, upon ordering 25 Atomic Wings the cashier looked at us dubiously and asked if we were sure we wanted Atomic. We were, and so she hesitantly wrote down the order and gave it to one of the cooks, who, upon looking at it, rose his eyebrows up to his hairline and asked us if we were sure we wanted 25 Atomic wings. Not to mention, many of the other customers were looking at us strangely, or giving us pitying looks. But this beaner was nothing if not confident in her abilities to take the heat, so I said we were sure, and sat down to wait for our wings.

Let me tell you, when we got them, I could already taste the spiciness coming from the bag as I opened it and smelled the wings, they were that spicy. We couldn't wait to get home, slather these wings with ranch and see what all the fuss was about. Well, it wasn't long until we found out.

I think I must have swallowed about a gallon of water thanks to these wings, and I finished two thirds of my ranch bottle trying to tone down the heat of these babies, but to no avail. My lips literally started hurting on my 5th wing, and by my 8th I had to call it quits for the day. It wasn't until the day after that I looked up the recipe to these little hellfire wings and almost cried when I saw that the sauce was made out Habaneros. Not just made out of them, but there were actual pieces of the pepper in the sauce.

If you don't know how hot a habanero pepper is, check this out. Not as hot as the ghost pepper, but still close enough that my ears were complaining to me about what I was eating.

The next morning, I made a soup, and hoping to tone down or dilute the heat from the wings, I added them to it and helped myself to a big portion. I was out of luck. I had to deal with Atomic flavored soup for the rest of the day as the rest of my family would have none of it.

I'm not saying I'll never go to Wing Stop again, but I will be more cautious next time when the cashiers ask if I'm sure I want what I ordered. And next time, I'll be sure to get only 10 Atomic wings instead of 25.

Hamburger Helper ala Vivi (Vivi, of course)

Alright... I don't have any pics of this because my camera ran out of batteries. HUge bummer, but at least i can post up this recipe.. if you can call it that.

Ingredients:
2 boxes of macaroni and cheese (whatever brand. I just use the cheapest available)
1 lb+ of ground meat (depending on how much meat you like and what kind of meat you like)
3Tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Sour cream
Butter
Oregano
Garlic powder/salt

Directions:
1. Follow the instructions on the boxes, meanwhile cooking up your ground meat. Season it with garlic, and oregano. After the meat is mostly done, chop up your three tomatoes and throw them into the meat. Put on low heat to keep warm while you take care of your macaroni.

2. Once macaroni is done, rinse and return to pot. Mix in the meat mixture.

3. Mix in a scoop of both sour cream and butter.

4. Mix in the cheese packets, and fill one of the now emptied cheese packets with the Parmesan, then mix in as well.

5. Serve and enjoy~

Hope you guys enjoy this. My family liked it to bunches.