Tamale Bake, Revisited

One more re-do! I'm trying, little by little, to re-post some of the recipes that I had originally posted without pictures.



My family loves this, and luckily for me, it's one of those tried-and-true "secrets"--everything can be kept on hand; it's quick and easy; and can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd. I've taken this to many family reunions and church dinners, and it's always a hit.




Ingredients:

• 1 can of tamales, drained and unwrapped
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can chili
• shredded cheese--cheddar, monterrey jack, or taco blend

Unwrap the tamales and place in a greased or cooking sprayed casserole dish. (This is important! I gave this recipe to someone who forgot this step, and they had tamale wrappers in their casserole when they tried to serve it!) You can lay them in rows, or chunk them up, or mash and spread in the bottom--I've done it all three ways.

Spread drained corn on top of the tamales.

Spoon chili (straight from the can, you don't have to heat it up) on top and smooth over the corn.

Top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, until heated through and cheese is bubbly and browning on the edges.

Notes:

You can make this with canned, frozen, and or fresh tamales; I've used all three (Fresh is best, but I don't always have access to fresh made hot tamales, but when I do, I try to buy extra and freeze them!)

You can cook this in the microwave--the cheese doesn't brown on the top, but it's still good. (I've done this when the weather was hot and I didn't want to heat the kitchen up any more than it was already)

If you do double or triple, allow some extra cooking time to be sure it's heated all the way through.

You can use different kinds of cheese--I've used cheddar, American, monterrey jack, and taco or Mexican blend cheese.

Basically I don't think you can mess up this up! I hope your family enjoys this as much as mine does!

For more recipes and links, see:

Tasty Tuesday hosted by Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday hosted by Blessed with Grace

Blissfully Domestic

Good cooking, and good eating!