Colorado Tamale Pie

I love finding good uses of the produce form my garden and this recipe uses my homemade salsa and home grown/dried oregano too...I even used some of that sweet corn I prepared for freezing a few days ago - this recipe came together great!  I will say that you need to make sure you have enough cornbread mix for the topping at the end so, make sure to keep a keen eye on dividing the mix (and maybe short the bottom a bit if you are using one box of Krusteaz mix - enjoy! Diane 
Colorado Tamale Pie

cooking spray
1 .50 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 large diced poblano pepper
1 small can diced mild green chile peppers
1 teaspoon salt
10 oz any salsa
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground dried chile powder, increase for extra spicy
1 box dry corn muffin mix (Krusteaz) **
4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
4 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
8-12 ounces corn

Preheat oven to 350

Brown ground beef, onion and pepper until you brown well enough to drain off excess fat. Add green chile peppers, salt, salsa, oregano, chile powder and mix well with ground beef - let simmer at medium while you prepare the cornbread mixture. Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Prepare box of cornbread mix and place half onto bottom of prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with corn and half the cheese. Add all of the ground beef mixture on-top of that. place remaining cornbread dough mixed remaining 1/2 of shredded cheese along center - on-top of ground beef and use a fork or spoon to gently push cornbread outwards towards edges of 9x13 baking dish (you do want to leave about an inch space around entire dish of no cornbread so steam and any juices can escape while cooking.) Bake on-top of a cookie sheet to catch any drips at 350 for 50-60 mins until top is golden brown, let rest 5 mins and serve.

**you can use 2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix (plus the ingredients to make that) in place of the one larger box of Krusteaz Mix

Recipe and Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home