Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

I may be one of the last people who have jumped onto the slow-cooker bandwagon, but now that I have I am finding it a great appliance for busy people, and am wondering what I ever did without it! I have recently been working to make some of the usual food favorites that one associates with football parties or tailgating a little healthier and this week I decided to combine the idea of a pulled pork sandwich with the flavors of buffalo chicken wings. I used a mix of chicken thighs (for flavor) and chicken breasts and used my slow-cooker to slowly braise the meat in a spicy tomato and buffalo wing sauce until it was so tender it falls apart. To get the right “pulled pork” texture for this sandwich, you can simply use a fork to mash the meat against the side of the slow-cooker, or even use a potato masher. The meat easily shreds apart at the end of the cooking period. To give the dish an even greater buffalo wing flavor, I made a lighter than usual blue cheese sauce by combining light mayonnaise made from olive oil, fat free Greek yogurt, and blue cheese crumbles. I used a whole wheat bun to keep the sandwich as healthy as possible, and I served my sandwiches with sides of sweet potato fries, and my Kale & Red Cabbage Slaw.

• Poultry, both white and dark meat, is a great source of low fat protein and both the skin and any fat are removed from the chicken before cooking.
• Tomatoes are rich in Lycopene, vitamin C, potassium, iron, and fiber.
• Combining fat free yogurt and a light mayonnaise base with blue cheese crumbles creates a creamy blue cheese sauce with less than half the usual calories.