tamale pie.

y'all know i love recipes on labels. seriously, what's a better source of inspiration than finding something to try on the label of a product that you keep stocked {or should keep stocked} in your pantry??

case in point? tamale pie. well, it's really called southern tamale supper...at least that's how you find it on the tendabake website.

i made this for dinner this week. it's super easy & super yummy. i had to tweak the recipe a bit in order to use what i had available and it still turned out great. if you'd rather print the recipe, you can click here.

ingredients:
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1-1/4 pound ground beef or turkey
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tsp of chili powder
2 tbsp of tendabake white self-rising corn meal mix
tendabake southern cornbread {for the recipe, which is found on the back of the bag, click here}

heat oven to 400*f. coat a 9x13x2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. {i used a large casserole dish & i didn't spray it. whoops.}

cook pepper, onion & ground beef {or turkey...i used turkey!} over medium heat until meat is no longer pink.

drain the meat/veggie mixture & return to pan. {i just tilt the pan and spoon out the grease...do you do that, too?}

add tomatoes, chili powder & two tablespoons of corn meal mix. simmer for 15 minutes & then spread into the baking dish. {i didn't have a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes so i used a can of ro-tel mexican & a can of margaret holmes' tomatoes, corn & okra. worked just as well, in my opinion, and totally upped the veggie factor of this dish! i also added a dash of garlic powder & a generous squeeze of ketchup...the turkey needed some color!}

mix tendabake southern cornbread using the recipe on the back of the bag {or just click here}. pour batter over tamale mixture. {we drink almond milk & the unsweetened worked just fine!}

bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. top with cheese, sour cream & salsa as desired. {we had some green onions left over from the weekend so adam sprinkled some over the top of my serving. he said it needed some extra color since i was photographing it for my blog. awww.}

this is the second time i've made this recipe. it's super easy, super fast & super yummy. my kids love it & i love eating this for lunch the next day.

and, just so you know, tendabake, rotel & margaret holmes didn't ask me to write about them or this recipe. my only incentive? a full, happy tummy. i hope you make this for your family and enjoy it as much as we do!