Chicken Cordon Bleu

I was looking through my April issue of Readers Digest and found this recipe and knew right away that I was going to try it.  It looked so yummy and didn't seem so hard to make.  It didn't hurt that it sounded impressive so when I was eventually asked "What's for dinner Mom?" I could say " why, chicken cordon blue, of course!"
 I adapted a couple of things that worked out good for me.  Besides doubling the original recipe which only was to make 4 servings, I changed the sauce a bit too.  I used a whole 12 ounce can of evaporated milk instead of 1 cup (mainly because I couldn't see throwing any of it away), and I used the tops of green onions instead of chives because that is what I had on hand.  I also used my whole 6 ounce package of swiss cheese because the recipe called for shredded Swiss and mine was in slices so I just guessed and it turned out just fine.  I also used the whole egg to dip the chicken in instead of just the egg whites because I only had 2 eggs left and the recipe called for 4 egg whites!  I discovered that I have enough sauce left over to make another 12 pieces of chicken or to use in another way (perhaps in some rice), because I only used half of what the recipe called for in each piece of chicken.  By the way, each piece of chicken only has about 300 calories!

So here is what I used: 1 12 ounce can evaporated milk, 4 teaspoons cornstarch, 6 ounce package of Swiss cheese, tops of 3 green onion, salt and pepper to taste,  8 chicken cutlets pounded very thin, 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs.

In a small saucepan, whisk 12 ounce can of evaporated milk into 4 teaspoons of cornstarch.

Bring milk mixture to boil over high heat, whisking constantly.  Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until mixture has thickened, about 1 minute.  Then whisk cheese into sauce until melted and smooth.  Whisk in green onion and salt and pepper to taste.

Spray ice cube tray with cooking spray and divide cheese sauce equally.  I had enough to fill 26 cubes.  Freeze sauce until hard, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.  Lay chicken on work surface and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Make sure the chicken is pounded out first.)

Arrange ham slices over chicken.

Remove frozen cheese sauce cubes from trays and place a cube in the center of each piece of chicken.

Roll up chicken to encase filling, and secure each package with 2-3 toothpicks.  The original recipe called for 2 cubes on each piece of chicken, but I couldn't get it rolled up if I used two. Dip the chicken first in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the panko bread crumbs.

Arrange on the prepared cookie sheet and spray chicken with cooking spray.  Bake for 25- 30 minutes.

Serve hot and enjoy!  I served mine with rice and salad.  In the future I would take some of my reserved sauce and mix it in with the rice.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the cheese mixture stayed inside the chicken.