Sloppy Not-So-Buffalo Joes

If I'm in a restaurant and my table orders wings, I sit there dunking celery and picking only at the crispy bits.  So if you love buffalo, but sucking on greasy bird skeletons isn't your thing either, give this sandwich a try!  Rachael Ray’s “Sloppy Buffalo Joes” recipe sneaks vegetables into already healthy ground chicken, but mine has more veggies and a thicker, milder sauce for the littles.

Not-So-Buffalo Joes

2 pounds ground chicken

1 large onion

3 carrots

4 stalks celery

4 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

1-2 Tbsp hot sauce

15 oz can tomato sauce

Crusty rolls

Blue cheese

Finely chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Brown the chicken in olive oil for a few minutes, then add the veggies.  Add salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are soft, about ten minutes. Mix together brown sugar and vinegar (to dissolve the sugar), then add Worcestershire, mustard, hot sauce, and tomato sauce.  Two tablespoons of hot sauce gives just a slight heat in the background; add more or less depending on your kiddos’ tastes. Pour over the meat mixture and let simmer for a few minutes while you make a quick side.  Pile onto crusty rolls (slice in half and hollow them out to make sandwich pockets for the kids) and top with blue cheese. Serves 6.

Freeze leftover sandwich filling in a Ziploc bag and lay flat.  Pull it out one night when you have some fresh rolls on hand.

Prep ahead: Chop veggies and mix up sauce ahead of time, then watch dinner make itself.

Yum-o!

-Rachael Ray