Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu by The Food Nanny

Dinner #3: Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu
Time: Long
Price: $$$$
Servings: 4

My Thoughts: A-maz-ing!  This is, so far, my FAVORITE meal.  Oh my word, this turned out so yummy!  The chicken was so sweet and succulent, seriously.  Anthony was bummed he worked the late shift on the night I made these . . . I took a picture of it with my cell phone and sent it to him (ruthless I know!)  He did have it for leftovers the next day and said it was fabulous.  This dinner just made my Top Ten.

What I loved:  Making my own bread crumbs!  Wha?  Whoda thunk it was so easy and cheap?  I also really liked learning a little bit more about how to keep chicken moist when cooking.  A tip I'll use in the future for sure.  Thank you Food Nanny!

ingredients
2 slices white or wheat bread
4 slices deli ham
8 T cold butter
4 small chicken breasts (I used two large, and cut them in half lengthwise)
6 thin slices swiss cheese

instructions
Tear bread into uniform pieces and pulse in blender to make crumbs.  Set aside.  If you are using frozen chicken breasts, while they are still slightly frozen, place breasts between sheets of wax paper or resealable plastic bags and pound with a meat mallet (I used freezer paper and a hard ice cream spoon!) to 1/8 inch thickness; don't pound too thin or the breast could fall apart in rolling.  If you are using fresh breasts, remove the extra fat and cut into the breast to remove the gristle.  Then pound to flatten.  Lay the flattened breasts side by side on a platter, sheet pan, or a sheet of wax paper.  Preheat oven to 350 and grease a small baking dish (see mine in pic).  Sprinkle each breast with salt.  Add 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, and 1 T butter.  Roll up the breasts tightly and tuck in the ends.  Place them seam side down in the prepared baking dish.  When you have all the breasts in the dish, top each with 1T of butter and 1/2 slice of remaining cheese (butter helps keep the chicken moist!).  Bake 40 to 50min.  Cover the dish with foil when the chicken browns, to prevent it from drying out.  The chicken is done when it is no longer pink and is tender.