When I first started Weight Watchers back in 2006, I was living alone and not cooking very much. I discovered Heather’s Recipe Site and started a fun cycle.
- Make Tamale pie
- Eat Tamale Pie for dinner and lunch for a week.
- Pick a new recipe.
- Eat that recipe for a week.
- Repeat.
I continued this cycle for some time, even after moving in with Adam. Needless to say, Adam got VERY sick of tamale pie. He pretty much outlawed tamale pie in our house. When he went out of town last year for 4 days, you can guess what I made for dinner that week! YUP! Tamale Pie!
It has been well over a year since my last tamale pie, and I finally convinced Adam to try it again. There were stipulations, one of those being that the lovely polenta crust needed to be thinner than the last time. I was SO EXCITED all day to make this for dinner, and told about 20 people about it!
There's a polenta crust, I swear!
Simply Filling® Tamale Pie
from http://freewebs.com/hwc1973
1 c yellow cornmeal
2.25 c cold water
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 lb lean ground beef (or equal amount of veggie crumbles)
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 tsp chili powder
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
Dash pepper
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 can Ro-Tel original
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed
FF or soy cheddar shreds
Preheat oven to 350*. Spray a 9 x 13″ casserole pan with Pam. Bring 2-1/4 cups water plus bouillon cube to a boil. Stir in polenta, and whisk until fairly thick and most lumps are gone (just a few minutes). Spread into bottom of casserole pan and set aside. Brown beef, onion, and green pepper. Add chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper, and mix well. Add tomato paste, Ro-Tel, corn (with juice; do not drain), and kidney beans. Spread over the cornmeal crust and top evenly with cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350*.
This was seriously just as good as I remembered! I did have a side of fat free sour cream, and will be going back for seconds!
Just a quick note before I sign off for the night: I’ve been feeling really guilty that I haven’t been commenting on many of your blogs lately, especially during the day. I’m a teacher, and therefore work in a school (duh!), and we’re at the mercy of what the district thinks is appropriate content. Unfortunately, the district thinks that all WordPress and Blogger blogs are inappropriate, so therefore I can’t see them. Some of them, I can see, but then the comment forms are blocked. I can read though, because Google reader is not blocked. So please know I am reading!!!
Be sure to check out Beadie’s Blog for this week’s BSI!!
Have a fabulous evening!
xoxo,
Oooh, a polenta crust?? Fabulous!!
oh i totally want to make this and vegetarianize it!!! i just bought polenta too!!! yay!!!
never had tamale pie! your blog is getting better and better with so many great recipes!
I love tamale pie! I wish I could have some for dinner tonight!
mmm looks very good. Never had it…but I want it now!
Tamale pie?! Sounds great, your always coming up with the best meals! I love polenta, I make a Polenta Lasagna that sounds similar. Veg, of course, but still!
yum dinner, as always Mara!
i would like to try………some….tamale pie!!!
HA check out that rhyme! skillsssssssss
I love all these recipes you’ve been posting lately! Woo! Such good inspiration.
Oh my gosh…I don’t think I could ever get sick of that recipe!
ooooooooooo i made something similar a while back… i think my fave part was the polenta crust! y um!
I have wanted to try Tamale Pie for awhile now! Looks delicious. Do you think it would work without the cheese (don’t like it)?
mmmm….i like to make tamale pie with beans! I need to put it on my to make list!
I love Mexican food, but I haven’t tried a tamale pie before – looks good!
Still so weird that you work with Whitney’s sister!
Another random fact: Charlie at http://www.backtothefridge.com is my brother! Didn’t know if you knew that or not.
I made the Ropa Vieja last night and it was sooo good! The only thing I changed was adding 1 can of crushed tomatoes and used beef broth because I already had that in the pantry. I also threw in some dried cilantro with the veggie mix because I noticed you had cilantro in the ingredient list, but it wasn’t included in the directions, so I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Was that right? I tasted right.
omg, i used to use heather’s recipe site ALL the time when i did ww, too!! and i’ve made the tamale pie!
food blogging is like ww message boards come to life … i love it, haha.
awww! SUCKS when they block things from your computer!! Grrrr. I think your tamale pie post is adorable! hahah It’s awesome that there’s something you love so much you could eat all week. I’m actually very impressed!
Polenta?! Yum!! What a fabulous recipe
This looks amazing. I am definitely going to try it and very very soon.
PS. I’m assuming you can also make this with ground turkey instead of beef?
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