Taco Corn Bread Casserole

Ok, here we go. Our favorite dish I've made so far. John and I both LOVED it the first time around for dinner, but found that the leftovers for lunch the next day were EVEN BETTER. This is definitely going into heavy rotation. 

I found this recipe on Elizabeth's Dutch Oven. I used the super spicy En Fuego salsa that we recently bought at a local St. Patrick's Day Festival from Cape Fear Salsa. I think that might have been part of the magic, so I'm going to need to buy some more of that stuff!

The Ingredients:

• 1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of milk (I used almond milk, but regular will work too)
• 1 lb of ground beef
• 1 serving of taco seasoning
• 1/3 cup of salsa
• 1 can of black beans (Or black beans cooked from dry)
• 1 cup of light sour cream
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used Seriously Sharp Cheddar)
• 1/2 cup of onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 cup of shredded lettuce (optional - I left this out)
• 1 can of black olives, sliced (optional - I left this out)

The Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine the corn muffin mix, egg, and 1/3 cup of milk. Stir well with a fork. A few lumps are ok.
3. Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray, then pour the corn muffin mix into it. 
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. (It won't be completely done after 15 minutes, but that's ok. It's going back in the oven after the other ingredients are added.)
5. While the corn bread is mixing, brown the taco meat on the stove, then add 1/4 cup of taco seasoning, 1/2 cup of water, 1/3 cup of salsa, and black beans. (I doubled all of these ingredients, so that I could use half of it to make some burritos for my freezer. Lazy me will appreciate that later!) 
6. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of sour cream, 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and 1/2 cup of chopped onion. 
7. When the corn bread's 15 minutes are up, take it out of the oven and spread the meat mixture on top. Then spread the sour cream mixture on top of the beef. 
8. Put back into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. 
9. After it's done baking, add the diced tomato and avocado to the top. If you're using black olives and lettuce, add those at this point as well. (If you have leftovers, remove the avocado from the top before storing. It won't keep well. The rest of the meal made for fantastic leftovers. I wish I had doubled the recipe so I'd have more than one extra meal!)  

The Photos:

Add 1/3 cup of milk, 1 egg, and corn bread mix to a large bowl.

Stir well with a fork. It will still be a little lumpy, which is ok. 

Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray, then pour in the batter. Put in the 350 degree pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

While the corn bread is cooking, start browning the ground beef.

Add about 1/4 cup of taco seasoning and 1/2 cup of water. 

Add about 1/3 cup of salsa to the meat. 

Add the black beans. 

If you want a bit more sauce, add more salsa. (I was out of my awesome En Fuego salsa, so I just added some extra stuff I had in my pantry.)

After the 15 minutes are up, take the corn bread out of the oven. 

Top with the meat mixture. 

In a separate bowl, stir together 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of chopped onion, and 1 cup of shredded cheese. 

Add the sour cream mixture on top of the meat mixture. 

Put back in the oven for about 20 more minutes, until it looks about like this:

Top with extra toppings as desired. We used chopped tomatoes and avocado. 

This is the kind of meal that's hard to photograph, but oh, baby! It's yummy.

Make sure you eat all of the avocado during the first meal, as it will turn brown quickly. The rest of the meal makes a fantastic next-day lunch. John and I both independently noted that it tasted even better the second time around. John's co-workers were very jealous when they saw him eating it! I can't wait to make this again in the future. I might even double it give us more leftovers to enjoy.

With the Extra Meat Mixture:

I made 8 burritos (to freeze for future lazy meals) with my leftover beef/black bean/salsa mixture. I added in some grated cheese, wrapped it in a tortilla, and there you go! (I keep them inside a big bag in my freezer specifically for burritos, so I only need to label it with the type of meat used, no need to write "burrito" on the outside of each one. I did later add the date to each of these, though, so I know which ones to eat first.)