Jalapeno and Chicken Cornbread Casserole

Would you believe Southern California is experiencing the worst rain storm system in over 10 years?  Since we’ve moved here, there have been a handful of really beautiful days, but for the most part its either been really cloudy or rainy!  But sometimes it is nice to have an excuse to watch movies and stay in bed all day.  Because it’s been cold and rainy all weekend, I wanted to make something that would be warm and comforting.  My mom has been making this cornbread casserole for as long as I can remember and everyone always loves it!  I do love the cornbread part, but she makes hers with ground beef, which I don’t eat.  So I decided to switch it up tonight and try it with roasted chicken.  I’m pairing it with my favorite chicken toritilla soup - that sounds like the perfect comfort food combination to me.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 cup milk
• ⅓ cup cooking oil
• 2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg beaters)
• 1 can (10 oz) cream style corn
• 1 small can Mexican corn
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 cups sharp shreaded cheese
• 2 or 3 Jalapeno peppers, chopped
• Shredded roasted chicken (I just bought a pre-made chicken and shredded the white meat.  If you want to try it with ground beef, use 1 lb.)

Directions

1)  Mix corn meal through next 7 ingredients (corn meal through salt).

2)  In a large greased dish, pour half of the corn meal mixture in the dish. Add chicken, layer the onions, red pepper, jalapeno peppers, and 3/4 of the cheese. Finish with the rest of the corn meal mixture and top with the remaining cheese.

3)  Bake for 1 hour at 350°