A Twist on Chicken Cordon Bleu

Brrr its cold outside.  With all the Chaos that the Holidays can bring I am always looking for a simpler way to make my world work.

I love to cook and be in the kitchen but time doesn’t always allow for this.  I also find that at this time of the year most of my budget seems to go towards Holiday gifts for the kids and the family.

It is about this time of the year that I also get really fed up with food. I am tired of the same old stuff.  I took time the other day to check out Cooks.com to find some new recipes based on the food that I had in the freezer.

Well the ingredient of the day was Chicken.  So here I am clicking around and I found this recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Well I didn’t exactly have all the ingredients the way they said. But I am a creative cook when I am inspired.  So I took this recipe and made it a little more to my liking.  This also turned out to be a very frugal choice, by using Chicken Thighs, a block of cheddar cheese-I had in the freezer, and a small ham slice-leftover from Hubby’s Breakfast.

So here is my Home Independence’s Frugal Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Again this is loosely based on the recipe that you can find HERE.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I used:

• Chicken Thighs
• Bread Crumbs
• 2 Beaten Eggs
• 8oz block of Cheddar Cheese
• Small Ham Slice
• 4 TBS Butter
• 1 cup of Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup of Chicken Broth
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Italian Seasoning Flakes

1. I deboned Chicken Thighs, a family sized package. I saved the bones with some of the meat on them to make Chicken Noodle Soup on another day.
2. The Thighs were first dipped into an egg wash
3. Placed into the Bread Crumbs and coated
4. Layered on a non-greased Pyrex dish
5. I sprinkled Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Onion Powder over the chicken.
6. The Ham sliced was diced up small and sprinkled over the Chicken
7. The Block of Cheese was also Diced up small and sprinkled over the Chicken and Ham. I choose to dice it up rather than shred so that it wouldn’t be all burnt as the chicken cooked.
8. Place the Pyrex into the over at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. This is an approximate as every oven will be different times based on Gas oven, Electric, Wood etc.
9. While that was cooking I made the cream sauce. Using the Heavy Cream, Chicken Broth, Salt, Pepper, Butter, Garlic and Onion Powders. I also sprinkled in some Italian Seasoning Flakes.
10. I had to add about 1 TBS of Flour to help thicken up the Cream Sauce.
11. When the Chicken was done, I poured the cream sauce over it. Added Veggies as a Side dish and Enjoy.

It must have been good as my 12 year old was even asking for seconds.

Here is a Picture Guide for each step.

Step 1-Deboned Thighs-Leftover bones with meat for Soup

Step 2-Egg wash

Step 3-Bread Crumb Coat

Step 4- Layering

Step 5 Dicing up the Ham

Step 6 Ham and Cheese Diced up and layered on Chicken

Step 7 Cream Sauce cooking in Pot

Step 8 Pour Cream Sauce over cooked Chicken/Ham/Cheese

Step 9- Enjoy!

This post might be seen at these Blogs: The Better Mom, Homestead Revival, Mangia Mondays, This Flourishing Life,  Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Real Food Wednesdays, WildCraft Wednesday, Homestead Abundance Tuesdays  Walking on Sunshine, Small Footprint Friday, Show & Tell Saturdays Little House Living