Tamale Corn Bake

I wasn't quite sure what to call this, incidently this has a lot of the same ingredients as my corn casserole, so fans of that, be sure to try this! I hate to have to use mixes, but I gave up (at least for now) trying to replace using a cornbread mix in the corn casserole, because I couldn't get come up with anything close enough to the casserole made with the mix. Unfortunately for now, this dish also uses the mix (although maybe for most, that's a good thing, as it certainly speeds things along). My husband couldn't believe his eyes when he saw me buying cornbread mix!

It's a simple casserole that I originally saw in Cooking Light and I have made a few changes to it. The original uses just chicken on top of the casserole but when I first made this I had a whole bunch of root veggies to use up so I roasted them and scattered them on the bottom. I'm always looking for creative ways to sneak in some more veggies! This can easily be made with out any chicken either- the picture above is a version with just veggies inside and no chicken on top. I have made it both ways. You could also experiment with including other veggies or using some pork or turkey perhaps.

Tamale Corn Bake (serves 6-8 as a main dish)

1 cup (4 oz) grated cheese (cheddar, monteray jack, pepper jack, or a blend- whatever
you like)
1/3 cup fat free milk (or what ever you have on hand)
2 egg whites (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1 tsp ground cumin
14 3/4 oz can cream style corn
8.5 oz of corn muffin mix (look for one lower in fat and no hydrogenated oil!)*
1 4 oz can chopped green chiles (or you can roast some fresh anaheims or poblanos)
1 10 oz can (1 1/4 cup) enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
2 cups roasted vegetables- Optional (I used parsnips, carrot, sweet potato and squash you could use only one of them or a few)

For garnish: sour cream, cilantro, salsa

Pre heat the oven 400.
In a medium bowl combine the cornbread mix, 1/4 cup of cheese and cumin, mix until evenly distributed. In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, creamed corn and chiles. Add to the cornbread mix and stir to combine. Grease a 13x9" baking dish and if using veggies, I like scatter them on the bottom, then pour on the cornbread mixture. Bake for 20-30 minutes until it is fairly baked through (should feel firm and bounce back when pressed, but the middle should still be a little soft). Then take the dish out of the oven, poke it all over with a fork and pour on 1/2 the enchilada sauce, scatter the chicken, then pour on the rest of the sauce and then sprinkle on the cheese. Bake for 15 more minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with some sour cream and chopped cilantro and salsa if you wish.

*one of these days I'll come up with a recipe for a suitable corn bread mix to use in this and the corn casserole.