Southerners and casseroles are like peas and carrots... and mayonnaise

I so am from the South. It's not only in my head; it's in my blood. I'm a fourth-generation native Georgian, the daughter and granddaughter of Georgia peanut farmers. And I love that fact. Where else is college football a religion, pearls a requirement and meat a necessary ingredient in vegetables?

The meat-and-vegetable comment brings me to my latest subject, casseroles. Casseroles and Southern go together like wine and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, like cabbage and mayonnaise.

Wait... what?

Yes, cabbage and mayonnaise. Though this particular blog won't delve into the cabbage-and-mayo casserole recipe that was given to me at one of my bridal showers, I will explain this: Southerners can take any perfectly healthy vegetable, add some butter, mayonnaise, cheese and bread crumbs, bake it at 325 degrees, and it's a casserole. (Man, doesn't that sound good right now? Mmm...)

This particular casserole is brought to you by my favorite cookbook, "A Standing Invitation," the Dawson United Methodist ladies' collection. Yes, it's a church ladies' cookbook, so you can thereby rest assured that whatever is going to come out of it is going to be good, 'cause y'all, church ladies know how to cook. But don't just take my word for it: This cookbook is so fantastic that it was first printed in 1990 and is still regularly printed throughout the South, nearly 20 years after its initial printing. I have managed to acquire three copies of it throughout my lifetime, one that's autographed by the original editor, Lynette Cowart, who was part of a story I wrote for The Albany Herald at my first job out of college. She wrote a nice note to me inside the front cover, where she spoke about how much she loved my grandmother and mother.

Don't just look at the ingredients list and sigh --- the combination of these flavors is sheer magic that only tried-and-true Southern church ladies can create. The following is my quick-cooking variation on Mrs. Homer (Ruby) McDaniel's lovely recipe. It's important to note that in no way do I ever measure the vegetable ingredients; I just add how ever much I feel like on that day. Please feel free to do the same.

Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:
-1 pound bulk sausage (I switch between my local farmers' market's homemade turkey sausage and Jimmy Dean's reduced-fat pork sausage, even though the latter is 12 oz. instead of a pound)
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 2 packages dry chicken noodle soup mix (soup with chicken broth)
- 1/2 cup uncooked brown Minute rice
- 1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped

Directions:
Brown sausage and drain. Mix water, soup and rice together and boil for seven minutes. Mix in sausage, pepper, celery and onions. Place in a long baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.