Tamale Pie

The other day I was trying to decide what to make for supper and in the back of my mind I kept hearing Jackie from Syrup and Biscuits say "use what you got."  So I started looking around in the pantry and the fridge and saw I had some taco seasoned ground turkey, enchilada sauce and cheese, but no tortillas. Then I remembered my mother-in-law telling me about a tamale pie she had made from the recipe on the side of a cornmeal bag. Well, I then remembered I had used up the last of my cornmeal making fried okra a few weeks ago, but I did have a box of Jiffy cornbread mix. So I decided I would just have to invent my own and that's what I did.

1 pound Taco Seasoned Ground Turkey
1 can Enchilada Sauce
1 can Cream Corn
1 box Jiffy Cornbread Mix
1 Egg
1/3 cup Milk
1 cup cheese

I browned the ground turkey in a skillet. If you've been reading my blog, then you know I'm a fan of the seasoned ground turkey. It'll still work out about the same if use ground beef or ground turkey and a packet of taco seasoning. Once the turkey was brown I drained it and put it back in the skillet and added the can of enchilada sauce and half the can of cream corn.

Once that was all stirred together I poured it in a square casserole dish and sprinkled it with about a 1/2 cup of cheese. I went ahead and turned the oven on 350 degrees so it could be heating up while I finished getting it all together.

Next, I poured the cornbread mix, egg and milk in a bowl and mixed it together.

Then I stirred in the other half of the can of cream corn and 1/2 cup of cheese. 

I kind of poured and spooned the cornbread batter on top of the meat, making sure it all got covered.

It baked for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the top wasn't spongy and the edges were starting to brown.

Hubby said the only thing he would've done different was more meat and less cornbread. Personally, I think a pound of meat was plenty, but next time I think I'll add a can of regular or mexi-corn to the meat mixture to make it stretch a little further.

Needless to say, he really liked it because there weren't any leftovers. He gave this a three-helping rating! It generously serves 2 to 3 and if you added the additional can of corn, would definitely generously serve 4.