meatloaf cordon bleu

This recipe was suggested to me a year or two ago by my great-aunt Krystal. I forgot to mention that in the video!

Well, she suggested I make a cordon bleu to bring to one of the big family gatherings(Thanksgiving or Easter). I'm into meatloaf so this recipe is what would happen if a traditional meatloaf and chicken cordon bleu had a baby- really moist(!) chicken breasts stuffed with bacon, American cheese, ground beef, and meatloaf seasonings that are topped with a meatloaf-inspired sauce(a mixture of tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce). 

This sounds like a complex recipe but it really isn't. It's kind of like making yourself a wrap that you have to bake in the oven in order to eat it fully cooked and not get salmonella. Surprisingly, the chicken breasts wrap pretty easily. I bought toothpicks and didn't need a single one! 

You may notice there's flour in the picture of the ingredients. It turns out I didn't need any. You see, my original plan was to batter the cordon bleus like fried chicken(with flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs). But it was a lot easier to just pour the whisked eggs on top of the cordon bleus and then dredge them in breadcrumbs. 

I haven't had a chicken cordon bleu since I was a kid and that was the frozen stuff we got at Costco(or as my mom used to call it- Price Club). 

I mainly tasted bacon, tomato sauce, and chicken with some ground beef and melted American cheese. 

My dad didn't try this recipe(on camera anyway) but my cousin Justin, who's a big foodie like myself and my cousin Max, did. He said the chicken wasn't dry at all and he could taste the meatloaf stuffing. This recipe got the literal thumbs-up from him! 

Makes 6 cordon bleus 

You will need: 

For the cooking equipment: 

A frying pan
A spatula
A medium bowl
2 lasagna pans
Plates
A small bowl
A large bowl

For the cordon bleus: 

1 pound 90% ground beef
Olive oil for frying
1/4 tsp.-1/2 tsp. meatloaf seasoning
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
6 thin, boneless chicken breasts
6 strips of maple brown sugar bacon
6 slices of American cheese
French-fried onions(for crunchiness)
2 beaten and whisked eggs
Breadcrumbs
Tomato sauce
Ketchup
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1. Pour olive oil into a frying pan and heat the oil up on the stove. Brown the ground beef in the frying pan until there's no more red meat. Reserve the ground beef in a medium bowl. 
2. Mix the browned ground beef with the meatloaf seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Taste the beef to make sure the seasonings are to your liking. 
3. Place each chicken breasts on plates and top them with bacon, cheese, browned and seasoned ground beef, and French-fried onions. Wrap the chicken breasts around the fillings. 
4. Place the stuffed chicken breasts into a lasagna pan and pour the whisked egg over all of them. 
5. Pour breadcrumbs into a small bowl and dredge the breasts in the breadcrumbs before transferring them to a second, clean lasagna pan.
6. In a large bowl, mix the tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce together. Taste the sauce to make sure it's to your liking. Pour the sauce on top of the breaded chicken breasts. 
7. Bake the cordon bleus in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit. 

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