Taco Bake

Years ago, I went to a Pampered Chef party and the demonstration was a recipe with canned chili for the base and box cornbread for the topping, with a few extra things added to each one.  Steve loved it; it was one of his favorite things.  Because I am so smart, I never wrote the recipe down.  I thought I could easily remember it.  Which I did, the first few times.  But then I went a while without making it, and I forgot how it went.  I tried a few other times, and then I found a few other recipes that I thought would be similar, but they didn't hit the mark.  I found this recipe in a GF cookbook I got at the Amish Country Store in Unity (apparently gluten is now attacking the Amish, too).  I thought we would try it and see how it compared to our elusive memory of Pampered Chef taco bake.  The cookbook people called this "Stuffed Mexican Corn Bread" but that doesn't seem like the best, or even an accurate, description.  So I'm calling it what I want it to be.

Taco Bake
1 lb ground beef
1 med onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp taco seasoning mix
½ cup water
3 med tomatoes, chopped
1 cup salsa
2 cups kidney beans or black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup grated cheese
Corn Bread Batter:
1 cup GF flour blend
1 tsp xanthan gum (if blend does not contain xanthan gum)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
4 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
3 eggs
1/8 cup honey
1 cup milk
¼ cup oil

Brown meat, garlic, and onions; drain.  Stir in the taco seasoning and water and bring to a simmer.  Add tomatoes, salsa, beans, corn, and carrots, stir to combine.  Reduce heat to low and keep warm while you mix the corn bread batter.

In medium bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum (if using), cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, honey, milk, and oil.  Stir just until smooth.

Pour meat mixture into greased 9x13 casserole dish.  Top with grated cheese.  Carefully smooth cornbread batter over the top.  Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes or until corn bread is golden brown.

Ok so Steve really liked this.  The meat mixture had more than the original, which did not have carrots.  But the cornbread was just right.  Also, obviously the meat mixture has some flexibility.  We had 2 tomatoes we just happened to have, but I definitely wouldn't have bought tomatoes for this recipe.  We had leftover black beans, but if we hadn't, I would have left them out and it still would have been fine.  And I also had carrots, but again, we could easily have left them out.  So it seems like a good "clean out the fridge" type recipe: if you have it, throw it in, but if you don't, it would still be good.  And if you aren't eating GF, I think just use regular flour, omit the xanthan gum altogether, and proceed.  But isn't it good to have a few easy recipes you can make in case you have to make a meal for a GF friend or something?  This would be an easy one for that, as long as you make sure your taco seasoning is GF too.  I'm sure we'll have this one again because it was so yummy.