Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I'm a firm believer in Ecclesiastes' saying "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.."  It's true for everything in life, including the sometime mundane things in life like cooking.  I love spending hours in the kitchen making long, complicated recipes....when I'm in the mood. But there are just as many days when I just want to put dinner on the table without a fuss or other days when I crave something cheesy, comforty, and gooey and uncomplicated.  Today was a comfort food day: all the taste of Chicken Cordon Bleu in a velvety sauce, without all the fuss.

I've made a couple of cordon bleu casserole recipes and the idea is pretty simple, very genius, really.  Instead of taking all the time and effort to pound out chicken breasts, fill them, roll them up, bread them, sauté' them, and then bake them....you layer those same ingredients in a casserole dish and serve it up.  Definitely not as elegant and pretty, but it's the same yummy eats in a fraction of the time. Some recipes go to the trouble to bread and pre-cook the chicken bits, some don't. Some heavily spice, some don't.  My recipe is different in one crucial way: the sauce.  Most Cordon Bleu Casseroles are put together with cream of chicken soup.  Mine uses alfredo sauce to pull those simple, easy layers together. 

Gene, the hubs, is my best taster.  He's always honest even if it's not what I want to hear.  Tonight, he thanked me at least three times.  He'd been in the mood for something cheesy, gooey, comforty too.

Easiest Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse

Ingredients:
2 large Chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper, ground
4 oz Ham, deli sliced, cut into bite-sized pieces
14.5 oz Prego Home style Alfredo sauce
4 oz Swiss, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
½ cup breadcrumbs

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Layer as follows into a 9”x 6” or 8”x 8” greased casserole dish:
Chicken
Salt
Pepper
Ham
Alfredo sauce
Cheese
2) In microwave safe bowl, melt butter for approx. 1 min on high speed or until melted. Stir in bread crumbs. Sprinkle over casserole.
3) Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned, casserole is bubbly, and chicken is cooked. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Nutrition per serving (casserole only):  Calories:  413; Protein: 33; Carbs: 12; Fat: 27;  Fiber: 0.