Another equally easy chicken dish

Many, many moons ago, I introduced my husband to Chicken Cordon Bleu. Keep in mind that the hubs is about as picky an eater as they come, so the fact that he really enjoyed the dish surprised the heck out of me. Liked it so well, in fact, that I ended up making it pretty regularly over the next few years. I should mention that I don’t particularly enjoy making Chicken Cordon Bleu. First, there’s the pounding the chicken out flat enough to roll without tearing it up. Then there’s getting ham and swiss cheese sliced thinly enough to roll up inside the chicken. And, of course, cooking the whole she-bang without all the swiss drooling out the poorly sealed opening…yeah, its not exactly a picnic. But, I’ve learned that when I actually find a new dish that my husband and I BOTH like, to be grateful and just shut up and make it.
Naturally, I was ecstatic later on to come across a recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu CASSEROLE. Hmmmmm….I was intrigued. It looked easy enough, so I gave it a try. My husband’s response? “Just so you know, you never need to make chicken cordon bleu the other way again. EVER.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Now let’s pause for a moment while I insert a small caveat. *ahem* this is not my favorite dish in the world. The amount of gooey-ness makes the dish almost unctuous. On top of that, it was not really a lot easier than the original, as it called for chunking up, breading, and frying chunks of chicken breast prior to even assembling the casserole. Kind of like cooking twice. Like I have time for that. However, I found a shortcut (which I tried out for the first time this week and the hubs didn’t even notice! YAY!), and on a cold winter day, when you need something quick to make and filling for the man in your life, this should do the trick.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
½ bag of frozen white meat chicken chunks (not the evil little processed chicken “nuggets”. Suck it up and at least buy real white meat chicken.)
2 ham steaks, about ½” thick (I just ask the lady at the deli counter to slice me a couple so I only have to get as much as I need. I also recently discovered a vacuum sealed package of the same in my refrigerated section by the bacon!)
2 equally thick slices of swiss cheese (ditto for the deli lady)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of milk

Layer the chicken chunks on the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Cube the ham and the cheese into bite sized pieces and toss them on top of the chicken.
Mix the soup and the milk until smooth and pour over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the soup and cheese all kinda melt together and get all nice and bubbly.

Now, I have to apologize. I was taking pictures while making this and my camera battery just up and died out of the blue before I could snap a shot of the finished product. Guess you’ll just have to try it for yourself! Enjoy!