When it comes to new recipes, I always find simpler is better. When I first started cooking with Matt, he taught me that food doesn’t need to have a million different ingredients in it to be good. But that doesn’t mean it still can’t be absolutely delicious!

Lately, I have been gravitating more towards ground chicken. Why? Because it’s on sale and there is nothing better than a great deal on a delicious meat product, especially chicken! (And because the price of boneless chicken breast makes me want to cry sometimes….how can it be almost $20 for one package of chicken?!?)

But ground chicken is a great alternative! And at first, like the turkey burgers, Matt and I made chicken burgers….which are delicious and require plenty of cook time (because hello, salmonella is just not something we want to deal with.) Yet ground meat in a patty form can get kinda boring if you keep doing the same thing over and over, so I sought a new way to treat the ground chicken and came up with…..sloppy joes!

The recipe I located was easy, minimal ingredients, and the prep time was relatively fast. (I forget where I found it, but rest assured that this recipe will have you feeling less pressure at dinnertime and result in happy bellies.) Now it does contain onion and green pepper,(Matt’s least favorite pepper of all – seriously, for a man who loves the hot peppers, it took a little bit of convincing, not much, to get him into the idea of trying the recipe to the letter); fortunately, this dish was such a hit that Matt even told me the days of chicken burgers are over….he wants this dish again, green peppers and all!

Maybe next time Matt and I will put our homemade barbecue sauce and fresh rolls to the test on this recipe and truly make it all homemade….until then, I suggest trying this one out and adding a side dish of coleslaw! (As you will see by the picture below, I can assure you, my dear reader, this meal lasted less than 10 minutes. It’s that good!)

The best lesson: never be afraid to try other ground meats. Really, beef is great and all, but poultry can be just as delicious and (for those who are super aware of their health) much leaner.

Enjoy!

~ Jenny V

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Chicken Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper (small-medium), chopped

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Hamburger rolls

Directions:

1) In a medium saute pan on medium-high heat, pour a little oil on the bottom to cover. Once heated, throw in chopped peppers first to soften, stirring frequently.

2) After a few minutes of allowing the peppers to cook, throw in the onion and cook for 2 minutes, allowing time for it to soften.

3) After another few minutes, add ground chicken and stir mixture frequently until chicken is cooked through. (Depending on how thick you want the sauce, if you prefer a thinner sauce mixture do not drain the juices in the pan, as they will help you thin out the sauce.)

4) Turn heat to low, add barbecue sauce and stir until mixture is well coated. Turn off heat and serve on rolls. Should make about 4-6 sandwiches.