Crock Pot Tamale Pie

I must have bookmarked this recipe MONTHS ago, and I finally remembered to buy all the necessary ingredients at the grocery store. How fabulous does it sound to have a tamale pie in your mouth that no less comes from a ...dare I say it...crockpot?! I rarely find anything that tastes bad from a crock pot/slow cooker, so why not?!

Beantown Baker was fabulous enough to have tried Stephanie O'dea's recipe, and you can find BB's recipe and take here. Note, per Stephanie, this vegetarian meal can easily be made into a meal with meat if you so desire (aka my sous chef's desire).

Ingredients

Cornbread topping
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder

Filling

1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can drained corn
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the filling ingredients--cheese, too!-- and stir well to distribute the spices. You will not be able to stir this again, so please check to see that the spices aren't in a clump anywhere.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. When finished, pour evenly over the filling, spreading with a spatula if needed.

Cover and cook on low for 4-7 hours or on high for 2-4. (Krista Kooks was able to have this cooked on High in about 2-3 hours)

I really think adding a small can of green chilies would be great for this recipe. Additionally, the sous chef and I felt that the topping was a little bland. Perhaps some added sugar and slight tweaking of the topping would be better. All in all, this was a good dinner, but it’s not overrated in our household. It’s impressive enough to me though that there’s hardly any fuss, and you can just come home and serve this up :)