Santa Fe Corn Pie

Saturday night was steak night in our house. The big guy braved the scorching temperatures to get the charcoal going and cook a couple of perfectly wonderful rib eye steaks. It was bliss.

I'm still on a kick to clean out the freezer before we blow this pop stand and it's amazing what's surfacing. For one that hates wasting food but isn't really into leftovers, there is some stuff that I'm happy to recycle including the leftover corn on the cob from a couple of weeks ago. It was the basis of this absolutely fabulous corn pie that we whipped up in no time flat. My kitchen sidekick has pretty awesome knife skills so he did all the chopping. How lucky is that?

Adapted from  Diane Clement's cookbook At the Tomato, this casserole is loaded with corn, cornmeal, sour cream, Monterey jack cheese and spiced up with a couple of Serrano chilies from our garden. Baked for 45 minutes, it is creamy, spicy and absolutely chock full of flavor - a perfect sunny side dish next to a perfectly cooked steak. The leftovers will make a wonderful lunch along with a salad or it'll be great for Sunday brunch topped with salsa, avocado and a side of bacon. mmmm - guess what we're having for breakfast? Download Santa Fe Corn Pie

Figuring I needed to get some more vitamins into us, I also whipped up a Broccoli Salad - now this one's been making the rounds lately in the blogosphere, but my version's just a little different. Along with fresh broccoli, it includes bacon, red onion, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries rather than raisins. I also mixed the mayo with sour cream to reduce some calories. The original recipe calls for a cup of mayo, and even the light stuff has 800 calories but reducing it to one third cup and adding a half cup of sour cream saved a whopping 371 calories from the total and still made a darn fine tasty salad. Download Crunchy Broccoli Salad

As for today - we'll be suffering let me tell you. While the weatherman said it was heading to 108 my computer says 110. It's 7:30 in the morning and already 80 degrees. Me thinks it's time to hit the ON button on the AC, pull the shades and pour some iced coffee. What's on your agenda today?

Comments

[Mags]

The corn pie looks/sounds delicious! I also love the modifications to the broccoli salad. I'm going to try subbing some reduced-fat sour cream into my broccoli salad the next time I make it.

[Nanan]

This is kinda like my corn pudding - but I don't put in the corn meal...interesting... might have to try this... hotter than hell here too - the humidity is unbearable...

[June]

Mags - I sub the sour cream for half the mayo in almost every recipe that calls for mayo. It works like a darn and tastes as good if not better

Lea - the cornmeal just gives it a little more body. The big guy even warmed some leftover pie up for breakfast this morning by coating pieces in equal parts cornmeal and dried breadcrumbs, then fried it. It was crispy on the outside and creamy inside and fabulous beside some sausage.

[Nanan]

love the idea of frying it for breakfast with sausage - I could taste it!

[June]

Lea - oh that you could! It is incredible and such a nice change from eggs and hashbrowns, though both sound rather wonderful at the moment. Ha.