Thank you to Campbell’s Dinner Sauces for sponsoring this post.
This is a “just for fun” post. Â The chicken marsala above was one of two meals Todd and I enjoyed on a recent at-home date night. Â And both meals were made in 15 minutes combined…by my husband, Todd! Â Intrigued? Â Read on.
Todd had a little help from Campbell’s.  I know what you’re thinking.  You’re in shock.  This is the first time I’ve used a pre-prepared food item on my 100% cook-from-scratch-all-fresh-ingredients recipe blog.  I’ve been approached many times by different brands to do so and have turned them down.  But there are a few reasons why I’ve agreed to review Campbell’s new line of Dinner and Slow Cooker Sauces.  So just hear me out on this one, okay?
I have a few confessions to share with you. Â Here they are:
“5 Confessions of a Generally Healthy, Cook-From-Scratch-With-All-Fresh-Ingredients Food Blogger”
1) Â I don’t always have frozen healthy leftovers in my fridge that I can thaw out to feed my family in a time crunch.
2) Â Sometimes I’m simply not in the mood to cook and I’ll turn to something that’s quick and requires no brain-power – without having to resort to fast food.
3)  I’m not a complete food snob.  I don’t always cook every meal entirely from scratch.  (I’m a busy wife, mother, counselor, community and church volunteer.) I appreciate convenient meals from time to time, yes from time to time.  And when I do turn to convenient meals, I’m very selective about which ones they are.
4) Â “Dinner ready in as little as 15 minutes.” Â There are times when I really like the sound of that.
5) Â Sometimes it’s reeeeeeally nice not to have to cook at all! Â And if someone else is going to do the cooking for me (ie, my husband) when I’m beat and just want to relax and enjoy a ready-made meal, I’m not going to complain if they reach for something convenient, if you know what I mean. Right, we’re talking gift horse here.
Still, as I mentioned at the end of Confession #3, I am selective.  And if I’m going to reach for something convenient, it’s going to be something that isn’t full of crap packed full of chemicals and who knows what.
And so it’s for all of these reasons that I agreed to review Campbell’s Dinner and Slow Cooker Sauces.
Three basic conclusions:
1)  I’m impressed with the ingredient lists.  They’re simple and clean. I’m also impressed by the fact that not only do these sauces not contain the usual unhealthy soybean and vegetable oils so commonly found in pre-prepared foods, several of them actually are made with very healthy oils, like safflower.  Another thing I looked for was sodium content and the general nutrition info.  Per serving:  60 calories, 2.5g fat, 10mg cholesterol and 340 mg of sodium.  Not bad at all.
2) They taste good.
3) Â Anyone can make them – they’re that easy. Â And they’re ready in 15 minutes.
To summarize: Â Wholesome ingredients, tastes good, quick and easy.
I initially bought 5 sauces to try. Â So far we’ve tried the Shrimp Scampi, Chicken Marsala, and Thai Green Curry (not in the picture). Â Next in line are the Toasted Sesame and the Sweet Korean BBQ (and there are several more flavors).
Okay, now with those confessions out of the way, let’s proceed!
It was date night. Â We had no babysitter. Â This meant it was going to be an at-home date night. This further meant it would have to be after the kids were in bed – which would leave us with limited time to cook and eat. Â We knew this would be the case, so we came up with a plan in advance – I thought this would be a good time to try out these dinner sauces. Â So I gave them to Todd and put him in charge of preparing them. Â He would do the cooking and I would take the pictures. Â Perfect!
(Let me add one thing on Todd’s behalf – he’s actually a good cook and has made some wonderful meals for us before. Â Just needed to throw that out there :)
Todd was on a roll – these recipes were so quick to make that he made TWO at once for us to try some of each. Â He started with the Chicken Marsala.
While the noodles were cooking he fried the chicken breasts…
Opened up the Chicken Marsala Skillet Sauce…
Poured it over the chicken, and let it simmer while he then prepared the Shrimp Scampi (noodles still cooking).
He fried up the shrimp for a minute or two (leave the tails on – it looks fancier), and poured the sauce over (starting to sound familiar?). Â That was it!
He plated the pasta and served up each dish. Â Dinner was ready! Â In 15 minutes!
Another simple trick – sprinkling over a little fresh parsley makes any dish look fancy!
We had a nice date night. Â Good-tasting food that was quick to make, with clean ingredients. Â Thank you, Campbell’s, for helping. Â And thank you, Todd, for cooking – that was the best part of all!
Jen says
Ew, I cannot believe how OBNOXIOUS people are!! All of you women shaming her for this, GET OVER YOURSELF! Your courage behind a keyboard is disgusting, and despite what you may think, you’re opinion is NOT NEEDED! If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say ANYTHING AT ALL! Take your smug superiority and just go cook how you want in your home, rather than shaming her!!
Anonymous says
Thanks for coming clean Kim and also for your research on these products. I have always stabbed myself with guilt when using soup in a recipe. I will feel much better about myself now while trying these sauces out. Or perhaps the hubs can add them to his repertoire of, let’s see now……….if you count winning the chili cook off at church, would be a total of three main dishes that he prides himself as being the best at. Bless his heart.
The Daring Gourmet says
Hey, if his cooking resume includes having won a chili cook-off and making three main dishes, then you have a husband that’s downright brag-worthy :)
Maggie says
Hats off to your hubby for preparing your date night meal–way to go, Todd! However, I’ve got some bones to pick (pun intended) about the packaged Campbell’s Skillet Sauce he used for the food giant’s version of Chicken Marsala.
For beginners, there was no mention of how the meat was prepped for the meal, i.e. was it properly tenderized? Was it dredged in flour before it was sauteed (NOT fried, please!) Further, it appears he used whole chicken breasts vs. thinner cutlets or medallions the recipe normally calls for…
Without checking the ingredients on the sauce’s package for myself (which I’m not inclined to do because, well, this dish REALLY should be made from scratch. Truth be told, it doesn’t take that much more time to prepare, and would no doubt taste far superior done the “right” way!) Lastly, since when is Chicken Marsala sauce red??? Yuck!
In closing, I confess I actually DO use some canned soup products in my cooking. Most notably, Campbell’s canned beef boillion–a staple I regularly use in my KILLER bloody mary mixes, and it’s beef consomme for my otherwise-all fresh summer gazpacho. Oh baby! Couldn’t do without it!
Sorry if this seems a little harsh. Just had to get it off my chest. I wish you & your beloved many delicious date night dinners at home in the future… Bon appetit, Maggie MacNeill
The Daring Gourmet says
Hi, Maggie. My husband’s never going to let me live down making him prepare pre-packaged food for our date night for this assignment :) Fact is, he’s a great cook. He makes some of the best French onion soup and Thai chicken curry I’ve had. And his French silk pie…heavenly! If our babysitting arrangements ever fall through on our date night again and we spend it at home, I’ll have to request that one!
Sorry this post left you feeling frustrated because of its lack of detailed recipe instructions. It wasn’t meant to be a recipe post. If you’re interested in how to prepare Campbell’s Chicken Marsala, including the details you requested about prepping the chicken, you’ll find the recipe instructions on the back of the package. This was the only time we made it, so I’m sorry I don’t have a package on hand for reference.
For a fabulous made-from-scratch version (which absolutely tastes better – no comparison) you can check out my recipe for Chicken Marsala. Happy cooking! Best, Kimberly
Anonymous says
I haven’t tried the cambell’s yet, but i tried the kraft easy sauces and it was good…very easy and i had a great meal…I will tried Cambell’s..because let’s be honest ,as you said in your post, who has never in their life tried prepackage foods, throw the first stone!…I tried to eat healthy but i will go to a fast food place or i will cook from a prepackage box once in a while..i haven’t die and i am consider a healthy woman :). Kudos to Todd for making the meal for your date :)
The Daring Gourmet says
I’m a very lucky wife – for many, many reasons :)
Puss N. Boots says
Hmmm not keen on this sorry viewed from recession hit uk. Wonderful programme screened in uk called take on the take away where home cooked food as good as quick as totally prepared bought in food. St Jamie has sold thousands of 30 minute meal cookbooks showing how it can be done. Speaking as someone who ha worked 12 hour days and has been cash rich and time poor still wouldn’t go this way. Cooking for someone you love from a packet??? Naaahh. Let’s not get started in ingredient quality … Sorry but let’s move on to resume usual thoughtful high quality posts
P xxx
The Daring Gourmet says
Puss N. Boots, I’ll refer you back to Confession #3. As is obvious from my blog, I’m very dedicated to cooking from scratch, using fresh ingredients. And though it’s not often that I’ll reach for something pre-prepared, there are occasions when I do. I’m health-conscious, but I’m not fanatical or militant about it.
As for “cooking for someone you love from a packet???”….Fortunately, as a wife and a trained and licensed marriage & family therapist, I don’t measure my husband’s love based on preparations from a packet. And the gesture definitely earned him an A+.