Poof, here's your dinner for tonight!

I wanted to share a recipe for a while now, and I am finally making the time to do so. A lot of you already know that I have never professed to be a good cook, or even a cook for that matter so this is history in the making. I've always been one of those people who was intimidated by the kitchen and many recipes. Now I know you might be thinking what could possibly be so scary about a recipe since you are being told exactly what to do. Well for me, the instruction of a recipe isn't the difficult part but sometimes finding a certain ingredient in the grocery store is too much of a challenge. And don't get me wrong, I love my HEB (missed it greatly while away from Texas), but I don't want to be combing the aisles all day long for ginger, dill weed or any other fancy spice. I am also envious of those cooks who just magically throw something together. I always think, where does that confidence come from. How can you say, just throw in a dab of that and a sprinkle of this and poof, you have a tasty dinner. I guess that's why I am in awe of Rachel Ray because she is the queen of "Now, use one tablespoon of chili powder, eyeball it in your palm and use a 1/2 cup of chicken stock, that's about three times around the pan as you're drizzling it." If I did that, I would get a too spicy, runny mix of goop. Anyways, the recipe below is one of her concoctions, and it's been a hit at our place several times now. I even included a picture of my creation. Happy Eating!

Mexican Beef Pie

Ingredients: 2 boxes of corn muffin mix; 2 eggs; 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 1 1/2 cups of milk; 1 cup frozen corn kernels; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1lb ground beef or turkey; 3 garlic cloves, crushed from skins and chopped; 1 med onion; 1 tbsp chili powder; 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp hot sauce, I used Tabasco; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 bottle of Mexican beer (I just used Miller Lite); 3tbsp dark brown sugar; and 1 package of Monterrey and cheddar cheese blend

Preheat the oven to 400.

In a large bowl, combine the 2 pkgs of corn muffin mix, with eggs, melted butter and milk. Stir in corn. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Pour in the batter and bake until the cornbread becomes light in color, about 15 mins. Meanwhile, place a large skillet over med-high heat and add the 2tbsp of olive oil. Add the beef or turkey and brown and drain fat. Return the meat to pan and add garlic, onions, and season with salt and pepper, chili powder, cumin and hot sauce. Cook for 5 mins, then add the Worcestershire sauce, beer and brown sugar. Stir to combine and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the meat begins to soak up the juices. Once the meat is done, cover the corn bread with meat mixture, then sprinkle with cheese. Put the pan back in the oven for about 5 mins longer to set the topping and melt the cheese. And Voila!