Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie

First of all, I'm not sure what's up with the color in the picture of today's lunchbox. I tried doctoring it up on my computer but I didn't have much luck. I guess the color of all that polenta just somehow messed with my camera. Anyway, the picture may have not turned out too great, but today's lunch sure does taste good. While looking through the fridge & freezer last night, trying to figure out what I was gonna' bring for lunch today, I stumbled upon Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie. As you probably know, I love all of the vegan products from Amy's Kitchen. I eat the vegetable pot pies all the time, and the last time I featured that on here, a blog reader mentioned in the comments that the Mexican Tamale Pie was also really good. I had never tried it before because I guess I just assumed it had cheese in it and wasn't vegan. Well, after that recommendation I purchased one and placed it in the freezer at home.

All I had to do last night was just cook it up in the oven and then pack it in the lunchbox. I hadn't read the box too closely, other than to verify that it was indeed vegan, so I was thinking that the top was more like cornbread than polenta, but it's polenta. I was expecting it to brown up a little more than it did, but I was afraid to leave it under the broiler too much longer for fear of burning the paper bowl that it comes in. Maybe polenta just doesn't brown that easy? I don't know, it's my first time dealing with polenta. Isn't it basically just runny cornbread?

Anyway, this thing tastes really good. I hate the fact that my picture came out so crappy, so here's a prettier picture from the Amy's Kitchen website. Something like this would be really easy to make from scratch too, but of course it wouldn't be near as convenient. I figured it would be delicious (everything else I've tried from Amy's has been), and it didn't disappoint. Plus, listen to this, this thing is a good size, the size of a regular pot pie, but it only has 150 calories and 3g of fat! I was impressed. Definitely good for the ol' diet, and very, very tasty indeed.

To go along with the tamale pie, I brought my two most favorite side items; roasted potatoes & onions and mustard greens. These were actually some leftovers from dinner, so I didn't have to do any extra work to make them for my lunch.

And finally, for dessert, I brought one of those new delicious Larabar Jocolat bars. GOSH! These things are so good. They taste just like a brownie, but they're nice & dense, and so chocolaty. I could eat my weight in these things, and so could a few other people, judging from the fact that they can hardly keep them in stock at my local grocery store. These are the most perfect vegan replacement for a regular old candy bar that I have found. If you like chocolate, I highly recommend trying them out (if you can find them).

So there you have it. Amy's Kitchen to the rescue again. You know, this tamale pie was so good that it's inspired me to try a new Mexican recipe that I've been wanting to try for quite a while. I might actually get around to making it for tomorrow's lunch. UGH! And now that's reminded me of ANOTHER Mexican recipe I wanted to try. SHEESH! This may end up being Mexican theme week if this keeps up. I guess we'll see.

At any rate, thanks for checking out the blog today and I'll see everybody tomorrow!