Bundo Bleus

Monday, yesterday, began with a adrenaline. I had planned on an early morning, to cook today’s featured recipe and bring it up to Philly. The alarm never went off, and I woke up to Barry, telling me it was 9am. WHAT?! I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to toss the dish in the oven and get ready for our day in Philly.

The following is a recipe that gets filed away under comfort food. Its a recipe, that is a specialty of my moms, that I’ve minimally altered to cut some fat and calories. I grew up falling in love with this meal and have great memories of being my mom’s sous chef.

Not only is this a favorite of mine, its a favorite of my Aunt Chrissy’s. My mom and I would bake a batch for her birthday every year and for the past few years, I’ve continued the tradition, each year playing around with recipe.

Bundo Cordon Bleu

makes about 18 rolls

• 1 box chicken stuffing
• 5 Tbsp Sugar free pancake syrup, (OR 3 Tbsp honey, or agave (or a combo)), divided
• 2 lbs chicken breast
• 2 cans 98% fat free Cream of Chicken condensed soup
• 6 slices 96% fat free honey ham (around 60 cal per serving)
• 5 slices thin-sliced provolone cheese (around 40 calories per slice, like Sargento)
• 6 slices fat free sharp, cheddar, or American cheese (around 30 calories per slice)

Boil 1 1/2 cups of water in a pot. Once boiling, add 1 Tbsp sugar free syrup, followed by the box of stuffing mix. Turn off the heat and partially cover pot with a lid, to vent. In the meantime, carefully filet the chicken breast into thin slices, about 18 filets total. Set aside. In a bowl, empty the two cans of cream of chicken and 3 Tbsp of syrup. Set aside. Slice the provolone into 4 quarters, each slice, the sharp cheese into 6 slices, per slices, and the ham into 3 or 6 slices, per slice.

Scoop 1/2 cup of the sweetened, condensed soup into the bottom of a 13 x 9 pyrex, and evenly coat its bottom. Lay a chicken filet out. (If necessary, to allow more surface area, place the breast under a piece of clear wrap and pound with a meat mallet). Do this to each chicken fillet. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Fill each fillet by laying one quarter of provolone, two slices sharp cheese, and one to two slices of ham, depending on how it was sliced). Scoop 1 Tbsp of the sweetened stuffing on one side of the chicken and roll the breast closed. Place this roll on the thin layer of soup in the pyrex. Repeat this filling and rolling process with each chicken fillet, rolling tightly, and placing them snug in the dish.

You may have stray pieces of chicken. Chop these up and stir into soup mix. After all the rolls have been made, evenly coat the rolled breasted with the entire bowl of chicken soup. Lastly, crumble 1/4 cup of the prepared stuffing over the entire dish (which will crisp while baking).

Cover the pyrex tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, rotate the dish 180 degrees and bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes. Allow the dish to rest for 15 minutes. You will have about 1/2 cup remaining of stuffing. I find that dads are a great way to rid of this.

Nutrition: (per roll, 1/18 recipe) Calories: 124, Fat: 3.4g, Sat. Fat: 0.6g, Cholesterol: 82mg, Sodium: 530mg, Carbs: 8.9g, Fiber: 0.9g, Sugar: 1.1g, Protein: 14.5g

Its almost too hard to resist when you pull it out of the oven. Somehow, I pulled myself together and refrained myself, so I could eat it for tonight’s, Tuesday’s, dinner. As odd as it sounds, this stuff is even BETTER as leftovers! I can’t believe my mom has actually given me permission to share this recipe! Grant it, its my version, but her recipe is coveted; I mean lock and key!

Our Veteran’s Day, Monday, adventures consisted of a trip to the cemetery with my grandmother to give my hero, my vet, my poppop, a copy of my nursing license! After spending some time with mommom, Barry and I hit a few health food stores, since I was in a weird mood and really did not want to go home. While we were out, we found these adorable apples, called Lady Apples! How cute!

I invited Barry and dad over for dinner, prepared some stuffing, as well as cut green beans and onions. We sat down and ate dinner, while watching a movie. “Dinner and a movie?” dad asked. “This was a pleasant surprise!” I have to warn you, folks, that this recipe is addicting! There is NO WAY you can eat just one roll! We all went back for seconds! Yes, even I grabbed another! When the lights came back on, dad cracked me up! “Oh, I missed some!” and her began to eat what was left on the bowl. “That was plate-lickin’ good, Bunch!” (Dad calls me “Bunch.”)

There ya have it! Its “Plate-lickin’ Good!”