Live from the Deck

Hello everyone! Hopefully the week is going wonderful for you all! I am sitting in the sun on my back deck enjoying this glorious weather! Its beautiful here today, and yesterday, and I think the day before that!! I am sooo happy! Spring time is coming (well technically it is already here according to the calendar but you could have fooled me, ice and snow this past weekend, boo!) If you haven't been able to guess, I sort of really have an intense dislike for all things cold, and winter. I am a summer person, and spring. It makes me happy. Being outside is the best thing, especially when you are cramped up in an office all day long like a lot of people are around here. Makes me miss living in the country where you can be outside all of the time.


The recipe of today is something that I made some time ago but forgot to put on here. We were all starving so sorry that I didn't get a good picture before it got half demolished. This recipe is pretty easy to do, bakes up nicely.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

INgredients

1 whole Cooked Chicken, Bones Removed, Meat Diced Or Shredded (rotisserie Chicken Is Excellent, Should Be 5-6 Cups Of Chicken
1/2 pound of thinly sliced ham roughly chopped (I used Honey ham and it turned out great)
1/4 pound of thin sliced Swiss cheese

For the Sauce ingredients

 4 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons Flour
3-¼ cups Milk (I Used Whole Milk)
2 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1-½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Smoked Paprika
¼ teaspoons White Pepper

For the Topping
 6 Tablespoons Butter
1-½ cup Panko Bread Crumbs (I would recommend only using 1 cup. I used the 1.5 C and it was to much)
¾ teaspoons Seasoning Salt
1-½ teaspoon Crushed Dried Parsley


1) spray your dish with nonstick spray,
2) place the chicken in the bottom of the dish
3) then the ham
4) then the Swiss cheese

5) then you start on the sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
6) stir in the flour and let cook for a couple minutes until bubbling and smooth
7) slowly start to add the milk, cook until thickened.
8) add the lemon juice, the mustard, salt, paprika, and white pepper. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
 9) pour the sauce on top of the cheese layer of the casserole.

10) to make the topping melt the butter, stir in the bread crumbs, the seasoning salt, and parsley. (I took away the seasoning salt and added Parmesan cheese instead)

11) place the topping on the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 until the top is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling (I baked mine for about 45 minutes or so)