Corn Fritter Casserole

This yummy dish is sort of like corn bead, sort of like corn pudding - it's really delicious for brunch alongside crispy vegan bacon and a fruit salad. You could also serve it as a side dish at dinner.

In a bowl, combine 3 tablespoons softened vegan butter (such as Earth Balance) with the equivalent of 3 eggs using egg replacer (such as Ener-G) and 1 (8-ounce) package of softened vegan cream cheese (I like Tofutti's Better than Cream Cheese). Don't forget that vegan butter/cream cheese don't take as long to soften as the real deal - in fact the vegan butter becomes soft quite quickly.

Stir those together with a whisk until smooth. Add 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper, and 1 (15-ounce) drained can of corn.

The recipe also called for a 15-ounce can of cream-style corn here. I really remember using cream-style corn in a recipe once before, and discovering a variety that did not include sugar in its ingredient list, but I can't find it in my records, alas, so had to improvise this time around. Instead, I made my own at home. Looking at regular corn versus cream-style, the real difference seemed to be the addition of cornstarch, as a thickener. So at home, I placed an undrained can of corn in a bowl, added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and stirred until combined. Then I added that to the big bowl along with the other recipe ingredients.

The next ingredient was also a bit of a vegan puzzler - an 8 and 1/2 ounce package of corn muffin mix. They recommended Jiffy, but Jiffy mix is full of awful things like animal lard. I bought an organic corn muffin mix from a company called Dr. Oetker Organics. This product came in a 12-ounce package, so using a kitchen scale, I measured out the correct weight - I'll use the leftover to make a few muffins for breakfast!

Dr. Oetker makes other great baking mixes as well, if you want to check them out: www.oetker.us

Stir in your packaged corn muffin mix, along with 1/4 tsp. black pepper, and stir until well combined. Pour the mixture into an 11x7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray and bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes - a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

You'll have 9 servings of 2/3 a cup and 250 calories each.

Cost:
red bell pepper $1.55
canned corn $2.78
packaged corn muffin mix $3.39