Jul 28, 2002 4 min read

By Jennifer Harr Herald-Standard

If cooking required a motto, mine would be: “If you can’t stand the heat, don’t eat my cooking.”

In my kitchen, the hotter the spice, the better.

Never afraid of hot foods, I used to have competitions with my older brother to see who would break and drink water first while we ate hot wings. (By my count, I usually won. By his count, I was a wimp.) But disputes with my brother aside, I am incredibly lucky that my husband not only tolerates, but also loves my spicy dishes.

With the current bevy of “experts” claiming that hot foods are great for you, I decided to check out exactly how good hot foods could be.

Hot peppers like jalapenos or habaneros get their heat from a colorless compound called Capsaicin.

Studies have shown that Capsaicin can reduce blood pressure, lower those pesky triglycerides (which are associated with the “bad” cholesterol) and improve digestion among other things.

The most significant thing to me has become the supposed increase fiery foods have on your metabolic rate.

I stepped on the scale a few months ago, and noticed the needle climbing a bit. I didn’t think much of it since my weight fluctuates, and I told myself that five pounds was, well, just five pounds.

Then, a bombshell: from somewhere (most likely the Harr household’s late-night dinners) came a whopping 20 pounds on my frame. It would be a cinch to get rid of that weight if I did anything of substance when it came to exercise, but I don’t – unless you count the occasional day of pushing my son through the mall in his stroller.

I work all day, run around after the baby at night, and by the time he goes to bed, I am just too tired to exercise. And yet, the people who exercise tell me that if I get off my butt and join them, I will achieve fabled amounts of energy … all I have to do is get up a few minutes earlier in the morning.

Yeah. I’ll get right on that.

So, for now, I am trying my spicy food weight loss plan. I’ll let you know how it goes. Here’s one tried and true recipe that I’ve made many times in the past.

If you have any questions, comments or recipe column suggestions, please write to me at the Herald-Standard c/o Jennifer Harr, 8-18 E. Church St., Uniontown, Pa. 15401. You can also e-mail at jharr@heraldstandard.com.

SPICY TORTILLA SOUP

1 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 quarts chicken stock

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small yellow squash or zucchini, diced

1 small can diced green chilies

2 fresh jalapenos, finely diced

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 small, ripe avocado, pitted and finely chopped

3-4 garden onions, chopped, including some of the green

fresh cilantro or parsley

shredded Monterey Jack cheese

4-6 tortillas

Oil for frying

Salt and pepper

Sprinkle chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper on the chicken breasts and cook them in a skillet until done.

Shred with a fork or cut into very small pieces. Next, heat oil in a soup pot and cook onion and garlic over medium heat until softened. Add in tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook about 5 minutes more. Add in stock.

Let it come to a boil, then reduce, and simmer covered for about 15 minutes.

While the soup simmers, cut the tortillas into strips and fry them in batches in oil. (For a less fat-laden option, broil the strips in the oven.)

Add the carrots and squash to the soup, cover and cook another 10 minutes. Add in chicken, chilies and jalapenos and continue to cook another 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Once the soup is done, ladle it into bowls and add in some chopped avocado, tortilla strips, parsley and onion as topping.

CHILI BUTTER

1 stick of softened butter

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like hot foods)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

I use this on a bunch of different things. It’s particularly good on broiled salmon, but is also delicious on corn on the cob, over vegetables or stuffed inside chicken breast, ala a spicy Chicken Kiev.