Cheap and Easy Tamale Casserole

This is something I found in a cookbook, however, I made it easier and cheaper than the original.

Brown one pound of hamburger in a skillet. Add a medium onion (diced) and a tablespoon of chili powder. Once the onion is soft, drain the meat mixture and pour into crock pot.

In a separate bowl mix one cup of cornmeal, one large can of tomato sauce, one 14 oz can of creamed corn. This is going to make a soupy looking mixture. Pour this over the meat in the crock pot.

Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until the cornmeal has set up in a loaf texture.

When this is done, it has the texture and taste of authentic Mexican tamales, yet is much simpler to make.

This can be modified with a can of tomatoes, green chilies, olives, almost anything.

Cost breakdown

Meat $2.00
Onion $0.25
Chili powder $0.10
Cornmeal $0.10
Tomato sauce $1.00
Creamed corn $0.50

Total $3.95

This can easily be doubled or tripled, depending on the size of your crock pot.

We eat this with tortilla chips and it is even better if you top it with sour cream and shredded cheese, but in order to keep the cost down, I left that out.

All the best!