Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

One of the first meals my husband made for me when we were dating was chicken cordon blue.  I remember being impressed with his cooking skills and over the years - I've appreciated how he always loved to go the extra mile to make things delicious.  I had him in mind while I was making this.  I knew I wanted to make chicken cordon blue but I wanted to mix it up.  Different recipes that I was finding were using canned soup for the sauce.  Which is fine... I use them too... but I wanted to make this special.  I'm making the classic white sauce with some dijon in it to add an extra level of flavor.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the oven to 350

Let's get the sauce going:
3 tablespoons butter, melt in a large skillet on medium
3 tablespoons flour, whisk into the butter for 1 minute3 cups milk, add to the butter/flour mixture and whisk until thickened (usually just a couple minutes)add some salt and pepper to tasteadd 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, optional 
This sauce is very easy but it does need a little babysitting.  I generally stay close to it whisking it the whole time so the bottom doesn't burn.

Aww... simmering white sauce make my heart happy

The rest of the layering components:
3 cups chicken, cooked and diced
2 cups ham, cooked and diced  (I used one a ham steak and diced it up)

2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

It's time to layer up!

In a casserole dish sprayed with Pam - 

Layer 1/2 the chicken

then 1/2 the ham

then 1/2 the cheese

then 1/2 the white sauce

then - repeat each layer one more time

Bake covered for 35-40 minutes

(Take off the foil for the last 10 minutes)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!