My mom taught kindergarten for 29 years and in that time she built some pretty special friendships with the teachers and teachers assistants she worked with. One of the ladies, Lala Tobias, gave me this recipe back in 1999, and it has come to be one of our favorite go-to dinners – it’s my kind of comfort, ground beef, ranch style beans, cheese, and cornbread – what’s not to like! I grew up calling chili beans, cowboy beans – I think that came from the daycare I attended when I was four – along with Miss Christie’s cinnamon toast (which I still remember, fondly), we ate cowboy beans. Now, mind you, I have never tried any other chili beans other than Ranch Style Beans, and I’m sad to say how very excited I was when I found an 8-pack of Ranch Style Bean at Sam’s. I believe I even spoke out loud – “Wow, it’s like Christmas!” I really need to get out more..
Any who, back to the recipe – I decided to try something new tonight. It didn’t work as expected, still tasty, just not as juicy as when you bake everything together. I attempted the separation in a chance that my son would actually try all of the components. He likes the beans and he likes cornbread – didn’t work for him or the recipe. I baked corn muffins and then once done and still warm I smushed in the center with hopes that filling them with the cooked ground beef and beans and topped with shredded cheese would make a fun, portable, tasty treat.
Here’s a pic from a few months ago when I made it according to the recipe – follow the recipe, the only change I made was to bake according to the cornbread directions. Jiffy is 400̊F for 20 – 25 minutes and when I actually figured out to follow the cornbread baking instructions, the cornbread cooked all the way through and didn’t stay goopy, melting with the cheese.
