As you likely know, I didn’t cook at all for our family’s first Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday of last week. But as we do every year, we put together a full-on fancy second Thanksgiving on Sunday and for that one, I cooked 4 different dishes. By far the biggest hit of the bunch was a Corn Fritter Casserole that I made based on a Cooking Light recipe. People are still talking about it, several days later.

But don’t think that the recipe, as I made it, is light by any means. I almost always avoid low-fat and fat-free foods at all costs. So, I wasn’t willing to use the fat-free cream cheese that the CL recipe called for. My result was a rich, creamy, dreamy, moist, sweet dish that I predict I will be making for decades to come. This one’s a definite keeper!

Corn Fritter Casserole
Based on a recipe from Cooking Light September 2004
9 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup)

3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 large egg whites
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole-kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8 1/2-ounce) package corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir in onion, bell pepper, whole-kernel corn, and cream-style corn; mix well. Add muffin mix and black pepper, stirring until well combined. Pour into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.