Sloppy Chicken Joes

I took all the pictures for this and totally forgot to post it!!  We had family come into town and all my blogging work took a back seat but the recipe was great.

I pulled out all the ingredients (mostly to double check that I have them).  I was going to use a bag of frozen shredded chicken when I put it on the menu but my mom brought some grilled chicken breast so I cut it up and use that!!  What a great use of leftover chicken of all kinds.

I opened up the cookbook that I got the recipe to double check that I had everything that I needed.  I realized that I forgot the tomato sauce and ran to get it from the downstairs pantry.

I was trying to decide if I was going to only make half of the recipe but I decided since it was the first time that I would make the whole amount and freeze whatever was leftover to use again.  I put everything in the pot and it mostly just looked like the tomato sauce.

I added in my bag of cut up frozen grilled chicken.  It was super easy and quick clean up which is always my favorite meal.  Of course, you can always use something from the fridge and these would have been in the fridge if I thought that I was going to use them quickly but since I didn't know, I played it safe and threw it in the freezer because nothing makes me more sad than wasting food.  Anyway, back to this meal.  The chicken is frozen and I didn't even thaw it first.

I mixed it all up and it was generously covered with all the extra sauce.  I let it simmer on the stove to make the sauce heat up and thaw the chicken.  It cooked up wonderfully!!

I heated up and sliced the frozen homemade rolls and topped with the chicken.  I was thinking about topping with Mozzarella or Jack cheese but I figured leave it as the recipe called for since it was my first time making it.  We served with a few of my McCain freebies of smiles and baby cakes which were super yummy with the sandwiches.

I thought it was a super tasty meal with a good amount of spice.  My husband thought it was a little sweet.  I guess the taste is different for different people but we both thought it was a nice change of pace.  I am looking forward to trying it with shredded chicken to see how that tastes!!  I hope that you try it sometime soon (especially if you have the items around the house).

Sloppy Chicken Joes
Modified on $5 Dinner Mom cookbook page 88

1-2 c Leftover chopped chicken breasts or leftover shredded chicken
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp prepared mustard
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
4-6 homemade hamburger buns

In a medium sauce pan, whisk together tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper.  Add the diced chicken breast (or shredded chicken), cover and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until chicken pieces are heated through.

Note on the changes:  Original recipe used 1 1/2 lb chicken breasts and put them into the sauce raw to cook but I don't think that I would ever do that because I am a little grossed out by raw chicken and eating the things that touched them because I would think that the sauce would have to come to a boil to kill any of the bad things that are supposed to come from chicken.  Plus, I really think of this as a perfect leftover recipe which gives you a great way to make leftovers into a new meal.  It was really flavorful with the grilled chicken because that has a wonderful grilled flavor as an undertone.