Disclaimer: I should probably say something here about how Campbell’s didn’t pay me or ask me to write this. I just really liked these, and wanted to share them with you! They’re great for a lazy cook who wants a good meal!
When I was growing up, my grandma always joked that I had “champagne tastes on a beer can budget,” and I never quite understood what she meant. It dawned on me, eventually, but I was reminded of this little joke the last time I went to the grocery store. After spending way too much money for one (or even two, since I often only cook when I’m cooking for me and the boyfriend), I had to laugh. I really do want to buy the finest things I can, but I have to acknowledge that I don’t often have the means to buy the nicest of everything. Sometimes, this means I don’t really have the money to buy all the ingredients needed to make a really good dinner, especially when I can’t quickly or easily reuse leftover ingredients. Case and point: I have a bottle of Dashi granules in my refrigerator that I have only used a couple of times, when I get a craving for that delicious miso soup. But it’s summer and who’s craving miso soup now? Not quite yet, anyway. I will be lucky to use up the whole bottle of Dashi before it expires.
So I was pretty excited when I stumbled upon these skill sauces the other day at the grocery store.
Overall, I was really pleased with both of these products. I made the Marsala with chicken breast and served it over veggie pasta tonight. Last night, we had the Thai Green Curry with mushrooms (a whole pound of them!) and Basmati rice.
I personally preferred the Marsala, but it’s more of my taste. The Thai Green Curry was good and very spicy! But while it was hot, to me it felt a little bland. Maybe that’s just the way curry is–I’ve never had it before now, other than sampling a small bite of mushroom curry at the local Indian restaurant. I’m more of a Chicken Tikka Masala person, myself. So I wasn’t too surprised that I found the Thai Green Curry edible, but didn’t exactly love it. I would probably try it again, though, because the boyfriend seemed to really like it.
Tonight, we both (I think) equally enjoyed/loved the Marsala pasta. At first I was worried because there was a faint orange-y smell when I first poured the sauce into the skillet, but the taste was very good. I do wish it had come with a few more mushrooms in the sauce–there were only five or six large ones and a few smaller mushroom bits. I love mushrooms, so might switch it up next time and use a half pound of mushrooms and a half pound of chicken–because really, two people probably do not need to split a pound of chicken in one meal.
Even better is that these sauces are less than 3 bucks around here. Even factoring in the cost of other ingredients, it was a pretty inexpensive dinner. The twenty-minute cook time (approximate) is really nice, too, because I never realize I need to start making dinner until my stomach is demanding food RIGHT NOW.
So, if you can spare the time it takes to saute up whatever meat or meat-substitute you want to cook and stir in the sauce, these make for a great meal. I’m sure actually making Marsala would have taken up a lot more time and probably made me cry. But this is a no-tears meal! Maybe one day I will work up the courage and start cooking more fancy things from scratch, but for now, I am pretty pleased with these quick-fix meals (and only 60 calories per serving for the sauce itself!)
Cooking and Composition 
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