"I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
Well, that happened. Sometimes, when you're writing about barbecue sauce, other stuff goes down, and the barbecue sauce doesn't seem that important anymore. As a result, I'm going to keep this one a bit short today, and encourage y'all to watch this. Statesmanlike!
The recipe comes from The The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, a recipe tome based on Erin Chase’s excellent frugal cooking site. It’s a bit more family-and- (duh) dinner-oriented than this interweb destination, but absolutely worth a few hours of browsing/menu-planning/other stuff, especially if you’re just starting out in the wide world of Getting Your Grocery Bills Down.
The dish came out to $5.08, but I’ll chalk that extra $0.08 up to Brooklyn pricing and my snotty insistence on Grey Poupon. (If mustard can’t be passed to you through a Rolls Royce window by a stately gentleman wearing a bowler, what good is it? Harrumph harrumph.)
I did make two big changes to Erin’s original dish. First, I reduced the amount of red pepper flakes pretty drastically. A full teaspoon sounded like a lot for my particular face to handle, so down to 1/2 it went. If you’re into spicy things and/or feel like clearing out your sinuses, opt for the original prescription.
Second, I swapped out a bun for simple slices of whole wheat bread. Why? Only my hairdresser knows for sure. Though, how she obtained that information, I have no idea. My guess is it involved a hot curling iron and some thinly veiled threats.
Overall, the dish isn't quite something you'd serve to company, but it makes for a solid weeknight dinner. Thumbs up!
(Thanks to my friend B. for the Twain quote.)
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If you like chicken and gettin’ sloppy, you’ll quite enjoy:
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Open–Faced Sloppy Chicken Joes
Serves 4
Adapted from The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
4 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
1) In a medium bowl, whisk together tomato sauce, sugar, mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes until thoroughly combined. Pour into a large, nonstick skillet and turn heat to medium. Add chicken. Cover. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, but still moist, about 8 to 12 minutes. If you’d like to reduce the sauce somewhat, remove the cover about 6 minutes in.
2) Spoon chicken on to toasted bread. Serve.
Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
462 calories, 8.1 g fat, 4.8 g fiber, 58.3 g protein, $1.27
Calculations
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce: 147 calories, 0.9 g fat, 6.9 g fiber, 6.1 g protein, $1.39
3 tablespoons brown sugar: 156 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.08
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard: 15 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.14
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar: 2 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.02
1/2 teaspoon salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper: 3 calories, 0 g fat, 0.3 g fiber, 0.1 g protein, $0.02
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.03
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1/2-inch cubes: 1123 calories, 24.5 g fat, 0 g fiber, 211.1 g protein, $2.97
4 slices whole wheat bread, toasted: 400 calories, 8 g fat, 12 g fiber, 16 g protein, $0.42
TOTAL: 1846 calories, 32.5 g fat, 19.2 g fiber, 233.3 g protein, $5.08
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 462 calories, 8.1 g fat, 4.8 g fiber, 58.3 g protein, $1.27
