My Grandma's Mexican Cornbread

As I said the other day when I posted my grandma's cake recipe, it was just a Grammy's recipe day. I had called my Grandma on Friday to get her Upsidedown Cake recipe again (it ran away) and she ended up being at my mother's house. So the next day when she was home she called and we "talked shop" for a while on her recipes. This is one of them that just came to my mind and sounded great, so she gave me the recipe for it.

This dish is super easy and has always been one of Grammy and I's favorite recipes. Just like the cake, I can remember eating this for a long time. It actually originally came from my Aunt Tina. It had been so long since I had eaten this that I was like a kid in a candy store while making it and ended up forgetting the cheese because I was so excited to get it done and try a bite. However, if I would have remembered I may not have even included it. The grandparents and I usually don't put cheese on this dish or runzas, it is usually added for my mother. :)

My Grandpa, if I remember correctly, puts salsa on his so your could give that a try. I had Adam try it and he said "it's not bad, a little sweet for me" He is crazy though, anything with corn in it he ends up saying it's "too sweet". I don't get him sometimes lol, such a picky eater for being a chef...Weird!

This recipe is originally way too big for just me, or even the both of us. I am posting the larger recipe, but just know that you should cut it in half for 4 or less people if you want a little bit of left overs.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-3 Pouches of cornbread/corn muffin mix (preferably Mexican cornbread, but it's hard to find)
-3 pounds hamburger
-1 whole bell pepper (chopped) Pick your faves, I used red and green
-1 whole onion (chopped)
-2 cans whole kernel corn (drained)
-2 cans creamed corn
-1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
-3/4 cup milk
-2 eggs
-parsley and garlic
-8 oz cheese (usually cheddar, but whatever you want)


Mexican Cornbread

*Brown hamburger, onions, and peppers in pan. Add a pinch or so of parsley and garlic (mix in) right before draining. (I actually just cooked mine with a large chopped garlic clove)

*Mix remaining ingredients well (except cheese)

*Grease a 9x12 baking dish and put half of corn mixture into pan

*On top of that layer all of the hamburger mix

*Sprinkle cheese on hamburger mix (I forgot and actually prefer it without cheese)

*Add remaining half of corn mix on top

*Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

Skillet Cornbread

I am on a role with posting old recipes. Although I should be going over my presentation that I have to give in about 3 hours, I have decided to take a mid-day break from all of of hustle and bustle of grad school, which I am sure would be frowned up on by many, lol. I found this recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod. However, it originally came from Pioneer Woman Cooks! Ree just recently (within a few months) came out with her first cookbook and has an amazing blog full of easy to make, flavorful recipes. She seems like such a joyful woman and I have high hopes of getting to meet her one day on a book tour. I have spend hours on her Blog recently and she always has fun stories, beautiful pictures, and tasty recipes galore on there.

I made this skillet cornbread in a normal cake pan and put it in the oven because at the time I did not have a cast iron skillet. However, Adam is huge on cast iron skillets and just recently purchased one for us. So I am sure that the next time I make this it will be the "Ree way" of making it. This was my first attempt with cornbread and it went fairly well. No big surprises, or catastrophic events, to speak of. I also made another one of Ree's recipes to go with her cornbread which I will be posting in a few minutes hopefully. That post will also talk about her new cookbook. It was helpful because they both call for buttermilk :)

Skillet Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. shortening

*Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

*In a bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder & whisk together.

*Measure buttermilk and milk in a measuring cup. Stir in the egg with a fork. Add baking soda and stir.

*Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until combined.

*Melt 1/4 cup shortening in the microwave.

*Slowly add melted shortening to the batter, stirring until combined.

*In an iron skillet over high heat, melt the remaining 2 Tbsp. shortening. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and spread to even out the surface. Cook on the stovetop for about a minute, then bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. (I did this in a normal cake pan)

This is the picture of my cornbread with the other Pioneer Woman recipe that I made to go with it. They were a GREAT combination!