Stuffed Mexican Cornbread

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 7x11 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, creamed corn, buttermilk, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, salt and chopped chives.

In a stove top pan, saute the chopped onion and the chopped jalepeno pepper, if desired, in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil until translucent, then add the ground beef. Season with seasoned salt and pepper to taste. Cook until no pink remains in the beef, then drain any excess fat from the pan. Stir in the taco sauce, green chilies, cumin, minced garlic and cilantro. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, adjust the salt and pepper if needed, then remove from the heat.

To assemble, pour 1/2 of the corn bread batter into the baking dish

Using a tablespoon, drop the ground beef evenly over the corn bread batter.

Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese over the ground beef.

Pour the remaining corn bread batter on top then place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes to allow the cheese to melt and the cornbread to become golden and crispy. Yield: 8 pieces

Cook's note:
The heat in this dish is in the taco sauce. You can choose mild, medium or hot, it's simply your preference. If you really like spice, heat things up by adding the chopped jalapeno pepper.