In Honor of Saint Juan Diego...

Today is the feast day of Saint Juan Diego, humble servant of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It's not often I'm thinking ahead with feast days and corresponding them to the food we eat that day, but the Saint Gianna's Maternity Home newsletter came yesterday and featured a wonderful article about Saint Juan Diego. That started me thinking about today...

So, tonight we had a very modest meal, made very quickly in a dutch oven (supposed to be skillet, but sometimes you use what's convenient!). Here's the recipe and a few pictures to entice you to make the recipe sometime in the future.


Mexican Skillet with Corn Dumplings (Adapted from: 'Help, My Family's Hungry!')
Yield: 4 very large servings

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup chopped onion (I substituted 2 Tbl. minced onion)
1 can (16 oz.) chopped or diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1 can (4 oz.) black olives
1 package (10 oz.) corn bread mix

In a large skillet (or in my case, a dutch oven!) with a lid, cook and brown ground beef until cooked. Drain grease. Stir in taco mix, onion, tomatoes, corn, chilies, and olives. Cook 2 minutes, stirring often.

Prepare the corn bread according to package directions. Drop the batter by spoonfuls on top of the meat mixture.

Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until the dumplings are done in the center. The meal is simple and tasty. I did save time by using already browned frozen ground beef. If you do this, however, make sure you heat the mixture fully before dropping the batter over the top.