Tamale Casserole

Jenna calls it "in-a-hurry tamale pie" but I have to call it a casserole. No offense to Jenna, it's just my Methodist nature to call everything a casserole.

I pinned this a while back because it's gluten-free, includes grits and cheese, and looked like it made for great left-overs. When it's my turn to cook, I'm looking for most of those things. Especially the cheese.

If you check out Jenna's recipe, I made some adjustments. Mostly just to fit our lifestyle. I'm not against meat-free meals and eat them fairly regularly. Jarrod, however, doesn't consider it a meal (even breakfast) unless it includes meat. Seriously.

So I threw this together with the warning to Jarrod that I'd made some recipe adjustments and we'd just see how it goes. He doesn't normally like veering from recipes, so I warned him that I did it just for him. It was an experiment.

The verdict? Amazing. Delicious. Cheap, easy, and great left-overs. I'm going to be a good mom.

Here's what we did:
Ingredients
1 cup yellow grits, uncooked
2 cups of black beans
1 pound of ground turkey
1 cup mexican cheese blend
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Cook the grits in butter, water, and seasoning. We used salt and taco seasoning. Pour cooked grits into the bottom of a 9x13" greased pan and allow to set in the fridge for several hours.

Cook the ground turkey, drain the fat, and season with taco seasoning. Mix meat, beans, and salsa in a large bowl with seasoning. Pour over grits (which are now considered polenta). Top with cheese and bake covered for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve with salsa, sour cream, or anything else that sounds good!


The best part of this recipe is that you can really add whatever you want. We always have black beans in the freezer ready to go, so that was more natural than a can of pintos. I could see doing cooked peppers and onions in it as well. Different salsas would definitely add different flavors as well - we used my standard black bean and corn salsa. Delicious!