Friday, June 21, 2013

It's not pretty, but it's edible!

Yesterday was just one of those days. I managed to remember to pull out food the night before to thaw for dinner last night and tonight, but that was the extent of what went right. My day started off bad as I woke up late and I ran out of muffins for the kids (hence yesterday's muffin post). Then my daughter started complaining she felt sick and then I fell asleep due to some new medicine I have been taking. This does relate...I promise.

The recipe we used last night was called Sloppy Tamale Pie. I was really excited about this one for some reason so I had plans for a great dinner last night. This recipe said the Tamale Pie had to sit on the stove and simmer for 3-4 hours. When I woke up from my impromptu nap, it was 5:30. Um...crap! So I send the kids outside to play while I figured out how to fix the situation. I figured that I could just dump the sloppy joe style meat into a skillet on med-high and it would warm up faster. Okay, saying medium-high is a little generous, I put it on high for a little while, but it got the job done. Five minutes after I sent my children outside they come in screaming. An overzealous wasp attacked them both and I was tending to a throbbing leg and a puffy eye (yes, the wasp got my son's eyelid). I spent the next 30 minutes wrestling him and holding ice on his eye while my daughter whined that her leg was cold. Needless to say, I forgot all about my skillet and the food. I went back to check and of course the food was boiling like crazy and splattering everywhere. It was also burned to the edges of the skillet. I shrugged and figured it was at least warm enough to eat.

I failed to remember that the Tamale Pie is to be served over cornbread during the wasp drama and didn't realize it until suppertime. At this point, I was as grouchy as my kids were. I put toast in the toaster and made a quick box of mac and cheese. I put the meat creation on the top of the toast and served it. It definitely wasn't pretty to look at. My daughter decided a sandwich was "cooler" and begged for another piece of bread. I complied hoping she would eat her food. She did, thank goodness, but my son scraped all the meat off his toast and ate the toast alone. He did however inform me the toast was good. My husband and I very much enjoyed this meal. It was very tasty! I hope that the next time I can actually make it correctly, but at least nothing went to waste.

I'm including the recipe and website below. I decided to go ahead and include the cornbread recipe I use as well. I haven't yet had complaints on it so I refer to it as my idiot-proof recipe.

Happy Cooking!

Sloppy Tamale Pie
from the website- http://www.allergyfreecooking.net/sloppy-tamale-pie/

1.5 lbs Ground beef
1 carrot, shredded
1 zucchini, shredded or finely diced
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper finely chopped
2 cups frozen corn
1 can whole olives (sliced – buy them whole then slice them yourself)
1 packet taco seasoning
2- 15 oz cans tomato sauce

Brown ground beef, carrot, zucchini, onion and bell pepper until done. Drain and cool. Add to a gallon zip lock bag with remaining ingredients. Freeze. Thaw and cook in crock pot on low for 5-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. Serve “sloppy joe style” over cornbread.
**Note: We did not use olives in ours and we split this into two separate Zip lock bags!**

Idiot-Proof Cornbread (a.k.a. Southern Cornbread)
from the backside of Martha White Cornmeal bags

Cooking spray
1 1/3 cups milk (or 1 3/4 cups buttermilk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups self-rising enriched white corn meal mix

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat 8 or 9 inch pan skillet or baking pan with no-stick cooking spray. Place skillet or pan in oven 7-8 minutes or until hot. Beat egg in medium bowl. Stir in milk, oil and corn meal mix until smooth. Batter should be creamy and pourable. If too thick, add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk. Pour into prepared skillet or pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8 servings.
**Note: I use the 9 inch round pan. The 8 X 8- inch pan makes cornbread that's a little thicker than we like. **

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