Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

My niece Lillie joined us for dinner tonight!  I knew I needed to make something kid friendly, but I still wanted it to be light and healthy.  Well, Gina Homolka over at Skinnytaste has a beautiful little girl so I know that her recipes are kid approved!  I had been eyeing this meatball recipe ever since I saw it in the Skinnytaste cookbook.  Chicken meatballs oozing cheese with salty ham in the middle and the whole thing bathed in homemade pan sauce?  Yes please!

So on my lunch break I ran to the store and grabbed the few things that I didn’t have.  I strayed from Gina’s recipe just a little.  I used diced cheese and ham instead of slices, and my sauce wouldn’t thicken so I added 2 tbs of hot water mixed into a slurry with 1/2 a teaspoon of cornstarch and it did the trick nicely.

I can’t give you a link to Gina’s recipe because it is only in her Skinnytaste Cookbook.

Here is what I did:

Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs (yields 16 meatballs)

Meatballs

Cooking Spray

1.5 pounds ground lean chicken

1/4 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (PLEASE don’t buy the bottled junk)

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 large egg

1 large garlic clove finely minced

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 thick slice of lean deli ham sliced into small dime size cubes(tell them you want to dice it and they will know how thick to slice it)

1 thick slice of reduced fat deli Swiss cheese sliced into small dime size cubes

Sauce

1 tbs unsalted butter

1 tbs all purpose flour

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup reduced fat milk

1 tbs dijon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 tsp kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 tbs finely chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray a large nonstick pan with the cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the ground chicken, bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, egg, garlic, and salt.  Form 16 meatballs.  Make a hole in each meatball with your thumb and stuff in a small cube of Swiss and a small cube of ham.  Seal the meatballs well by pinching and rolling to keep cheese from oozing out. Place on the baking pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile in a large, deep nonstick skillet with a fitted lid, melt the butter over medium heat.  Sprinkle in flour and cook, whisking constantly, for about 1 minute.  Whisk in the wine and cook for one minute.  Then whisk in the milk and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil (this is when I added my cornstarch slurry.  You may not need it if your sauce is thickening without it)  Then simmer until it thicken a little, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in the mustard and lemon juice, and season with the salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and keep covered.

When the meatballs come out of the oven, add them to the skillet with the sauce.  Cover again and simmer the meatballs over medium-low heat until they are cooked through.  About 5 minutes should do it.

To serve, I place 3 meatballs with a heaping half cup of garlic mashed potatoes.  You could also serve with eggs noodles!

For my mashed potatoes I just winged it!  Here is my “Recipe”

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (yields 4 servings)

3 large Yukon Gold Potatoes

1/4 cup non fat plain Greek Yogurt

1/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Dice your potatoes into roughly equal size pieces and boil for 20 minutes until tender.  Drain the potatoes and them mix them for 30 seconds in a stand mixer or with hand held beaters to break them up.  Add, your yogurt, chicken broth, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and mix until they are the consistency you like.

Three meatballs and 1/4 cup sauce is roughly 350 calories.  The potatoes are roughly 110 calories per serving.