Taco Bake Recipe - Foodie Friday

This recipe was born out of "I'm hungry," "Tacos sound good" and "Tacos again?" And while it's a pretty good recipe, there are a few changes I would/will make the next time this is on the menu (and there will be a next time). Don't worry though, I'll let you know when it comes what I would change.

 

Ingredients:

1 package cornbread/corn muffin mix prepared according to directions

Taco meat prepared according to your tastes - use your normal amount when feeding your family, along with any seasonings you put in

Cheese of your choice - shredded, cubed, from a jar

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Any other taco toppings you desire

As you may be able to tell from the ingredients list above, this recipe is quite customizable to your tastes. Feel free to make any substitutions you need according to your tastes and/or ingredients on hand.

Directions:
1. Prepare the cornbread/corn muffin mix as directed on the package. The ingredients and/or directions necessary to do this step may/will vary depending on the mix you have.

2. Brown the ground beef and season to your preferred tastes.

3. While the meat is cooking, chop/prepare any other ingredients you'll be using - tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, etc.

4. Also while meat is cooking and you're preparing ingredients, bake the cornbread in a large pan at the directed temperature on the package for half the time directed. When you take it out, it should just be setting up on the sides and still kind of gooey/not done in the middle.

5. Layer the cooked seasoned taco meat onto the partially cooked cornbread and spread to make an even layer. Put back in oven and finish cooking the rest of the time directed on the cornbread package, minus 5 minutes. You'll need that last 5 minutes for melting the cheese.

6. When there's 5 minutes left in the cooking time for the cornbread, take it back out of the oven and cover evenly with as much cheese as you desire. I used a mixture of shredded Colby-Jack cheese and Velveeta. In the future I will probably either use all shredded cheese or opt for a can/jar of nacho cheese.

7. The cheese should be melted in about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and top with your desired taco toppings. I put tomato and lettuce over the whole thing and individuals added sour cream, onions and hot sauce as they desired.

This was a great alternative to regular tacos in shells and really took about as long to make since I could be doing other things while it was baking.