Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

In my on-going quest to make meals that produce good lunch-/dinner-time leftovers, I tried this chicken cordon bleu casserole.  I made it healthier with some swaps--2% milk for the half and half, lower fat cream cheese, etc.--and it was a winner.  It was a little pricey to make when considering it as a single dinner, but if you consider that I got so many meals out of it, it really wasn't too bad. 

Also, I'm happy to say that this was my first opportunity to use my new, matching food containers.  Nothing like buying a full set of containers from Sam's Club and then actually using them...neatly stacking leftovers in my fridge.  

Ingredients:

• 12 ounce package of no-yolk egg noodles
• 3 cups 2% milk (recipe called for half & half, but 2% milk worked really well)
• 1 can (10.75 oz.) Cream of Chicken and Herb soup
• 4 oz. reduced fat, spreadable cream cheese (softened)
• 4 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 tsp. dried roasted garlic
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2+ tsp. dijon mustard 
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 2 to 3 chicken breasts--or equivalent, cooked and roughly chopped (I cooked up some frozen chicken breasts, but rotisserie chicken would also be tasty)
• 1 lb. cooked/smoked ham, roughly chopped
• 3 cups shredded cheese, be sure it is all or mostly swiss (I used one 8 oz. block of swiss that I shredded and a handful of pre-shredded mixed colby/cheddar)
• Bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray (I also lined mine with foil first, to make cleanup easier)
3. Cook noodles until al dente.  Drain well
4. Mix milk, soup, cream cheese, 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, garlic, garlic powder, salt, pepper, mustard, and nutmeg. 
5. Save back aboug 1 cup of noodles.
6. In dish, layer 1/2 of noodles, 1/2 chicken, 1/2 ham.
7. Drizzle 1/3 of sauce, top with 1/3 of shredded cheese.
8. Repeat.
9. Top with remaining 1 cup of noodles, remaining 1/3 of sauce, 1/3 of shredded cheese.
10. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs
11. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until bubbly
12. Let sit for 5 minutes or so before serving.