Random Recipe Fridays

I've made a couple of recipes lately (made up in my head, no cookbook allowed) that were so good I had to ask myself, "Self?! Did you really make this?" If Paula Deen and Rachel Ray had a baby, I would have been it...So i thought i'd share. - I'm thinking that I'm going to start a weekly tradition- Random Recipe Fridays, especially geared toward singles, as i'm finding that its a challenge to cook for one (or two) and make the most of the food you buy. So here goes:

CB's Most Excellent Squash Casserole

4 yellow squash, cut up

1 small onion (yellow or sweet, whatever floats your boat)

1/2 can cream of chicken soup

4 oz sour cream

3/4 sleeve of Club Crackers (mine were reduced fat and that was just fine. normally I would use ritz, but club turned out to be excellent.)

4tbsp butter (i used margerine)

sharp cheddar cheese

Sautee squash and onion in butter until soft and translucent. Add cream of chicken soup and sour cream, cheese to taste and club crackers while still in skillet. Transfer to casserole and top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

(Ps- this makes a small casserole. i got about 3 servings out of mine. would definitely double for a family or company)

Here's Random recipes #s 2 and 3- This one came about because I am trying to be as economical as possible lately (aka I'm poor). One night I made turkey burgers and had no desire to eat 3 in a row as leftovers, so I froze two of them and prayed for a good idea on how to re-use. It came to me in the form of "oh uhhhh the only things i have at my apartment are pasta, spaghetti and alfredo sauce and two turkey burgers and I don't get paid til Wednesday". And so was born a reallllyyy flavorful, interesting and all around YUMMY version of spaghetti (like I might not ever want to make it any other way than this, not to mention, it cost me zero dollars-- my favorite part) Below is the 2-fer recipe for those of you who need to stretch the paycheck :)

Turkey Burgers

1 lb of ground turkey

teryaki sauce

crushed up ritz crackers, breadcrumbs or whatever you have

1 egg

season salt

garlic powder

Mix all these together, make patties and pan fry, basting with the teryaki. Makes 3 large burgers or 4 small ones. I served with a coleslaw mix tossed with poppyseed dressing. You could put this on the side or on top of the burger. Plus- coleslaw mix keeps fresh forever, and tastes great with different kinds of dressings. Def a good single person buy.
** Note: if you didn't want to make turkey burgers, you could make this mixture into meatballs and add to the spaghetti immediately.**

Ballin on a Budget Turkey Burger Spaghetti

1/2 box of angel hair pasta (or whatever's in your budget pantry at the end of your paycheck)

1/2 can of spaghetti sauce

1/2 can of light alfredo sauce

2 leftover turkey burgers

Combine spaghetti and alfredo sauce and turkey burgers and heat over med-lo, about 15 min. If you froze them-I'd recommend de-frosting in microwave for about 2-3 minutes, after that they should break up pretty easily in the sauce with a spatula. Boil noodles, you know the drill. Top with parm if you have it, but trust me- you totally won't need it.

Enjoy!

I Should Like NASCAR and So Can You...

In my recent pondering of all things southern, my mind drifted to a little sport called NASCAR. (better known in the south as “racin”) Growing up, I was aware that such a sport existed, but never really knew anything about it….- my family was more into the golf/football kinda thing…. In high school I had a brief romance with a young, strapping boy named Dale Earnhardt Jr and went into fake mourning (as did the entire southeast- except I think they were in real mourning) for his Dad when he passed away. After that five minute phase was over, I continued on with my life and never gave “racin” a second thought, until now. How southern could I actually be, I wondered, if I really didn’t know or enjoy NASCAR? Well, I’m not about to let anyone in my way of becoming the perfect Belle. And if it means getting in touch with my Keystone Light drinkin’, redneck side, so be it.

I decided to canvas a couple of my guy friends (avid NASCAR fans and beer drinkers, of course) to find out what the big deal was about some Ford Taurus’s driving around in circles. I wanted to see what it was that they liked about it, and if, in fact, the real sport is anywhere near as entertaining as “Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”. It went something like this:

Callie: Will/Josh Can you please explain to me why Nascar is exciting and not stupid? I feel un-Southern for not liking it, but I can’t come up with any reasons why it’s the bomb. Please discuss.

Will: (after quoting the websites from Charlotte, Atlanta, and Talladega motor speedways saying that you may, indeed, bring coolers in with you)” Alcohol, Outdoors, Alcohol, Fast Cars, Alcohol, Military, Alcohol, America. Yeah. Alcohol and America.”

Callie: ok reason #1, Alcohol. Reason #2 America…. #3?

Josh: #3 Jorts in a Field. (see photo) #4 Burnouts

After several more exchanges including alchohol, America, Jorts, Camo and something called “baby bird” which I’ll leave to your imagination for now, Will provided me with a NASCAR for DUMMIES sort of guideline: “

1) pick a driver. Best way to do this is to pick a number, 00-99. I would recommend not basing it off looks, as that is not always the best move (see the hog-huffing Jimmie Johnson). Once you have a number of a driver, make sure he's a top 35 driver, otherwise he may not make it in every race (to do this run it by Yosh and I).

2) Actually watch the race. Every weekend. I promise it's not boring like people think. You just have to kind of pick it up as you go.

3) While watching the race, watch it correctly. No beers that don't come bottled from St. Louis, Missouri. Stick to Natty, Bud Light, or the King of Beers, Bud Heavy Himself. Grilling out also helps.

4) If you can, turn it up, especially when Fox does their "Turn it up" Segments. You'll feel more like you're there. They just stop talking and mic up all the cameras on the track so you hear somewhat what the fans there hear.

5) This is a biggie: Plan a race to go to. Nothing more fun than tailgating ALL day for a night race and then going. You really have to be there to fully experience it.
Do these, and you'll be well on your way. Week by week, you become more invested. It's like any sport, you have to have a reason to follow. Pick a driver, get invested. Just don't pick Jimmie, no one likes a bandwagon fan.”

Ahhh, Step one, Pick a driver. First I picked #4, strikeeee. No one drives a number 4 car. Then I picked Tide, cause I like their detergent and their logo. Strikeeee. I finally settled on Jamie McMurray, after remembering that we had a mutual aquaintance. According to my sources, he was” Very solid last year on restrictor plate tracks. And Ganassi has been getting better and better every year.” I’m not going to lie to ya’ll, I have absolutely NO IDEA what that means. It might as well be German. But my choice was man approved, so Jamie McMurray is officially my guy. I haven’t actually watched a race yet either, but we are planning to go to the one in Atlanta in September, so I feel that I should be adequately versed on racin and rednecks by then.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of what you should anticipate from my NASCAR Updates.

Below: I'm told that The guy in the whiteT/camo hat eventually fell forward, putting out the Tiki torch with his eye - he regained vision the next day.

And Finally, I'll leave you with "Baby Bird"

Shoutout and Thanks to my NASCAR Gurus Will Farlow and Josh Shuford for providing helpful info and hilarious pictures.

Stay Tuned....

A Little Bit Stronger

So in light of my recent journey to… uhh… well, wherever it is I’m supposed to be, I’ve been getting a lot stronger. I’ve been paying attention to my body, my mind and my spirituality. I’ve decided instead of focusing on what I wish things were, I will focus on what they ARE, and go from there. I will be thankful for what I have, not mourn for that which I don’t have. I’ve decided being unhappy is like disrespecting the things and people that I have been so blessed with. So I’ve been taking time to really, consciously, effectively change my negative thought patterns—which in all honesty have probably just become habit. I’m so used to thinking that I’m miserable because I don’t have a husband and babies that I continuously think that, all day, every day. I mean truly, if I’m being honest with ya’ll and with myself I would say that at least a solid 3 hours (sometimes more) of every day my mind thinks of how much I want a family. How pathetic I am cause I don’t have one. How my life doesn’t really matter because I have no people to which it’s tied to. No purpose. No one needs me. (Lock it up, Callie, before someone calls the WAAAAAAMMMMbulance.)

The fact is, I can’t do shit about not having a husband and babies. The only options available to me to remedy this problem are to:

1. One, Look like Angelina Jolie
2. Two, Get artificially inseminated. (and really, this only remedies the baby problem…and creates more problems)
3. Three, Turn it over to God.

I can’t afford number two- like… at all. , And in the spirit of honesty, number one will happen when pigs fly out of my ass. So that left me with 3.

Once I realized this, I have been praying like it is my Job (which I guess in a way it is..) trying, not only to TALK to God but to also LISTEN. To be quiet and still. To be faithful, trusting and grateful. It’s only logical that if I flood my thoughts with thankfulness and trust, that the negative thoughts will inevitably be pushed out. I pray not just for me, but for others- for their needs, and strength and happiness. So, God has given me the grace to focus on what is good. To be patient with people and patient for His plan for me to come together in His perfect timing. He comes to me in my dreams and strengthens me during the day. I realize I probably sound like the biggest Holy Roller you’ve ever met right now, but I don’t EVEN care. Once I opened my heart to this open conversation, all the time, free for all prayer, things have been coming together. I prayed that I would start to feel genuinely happy for people when good things happen to them. And the next day, I was tested and I didn’t feel sad. I prayed that I would have the mental strength to work out, and I have been to the gym 6 out of the last 7 days. (and I just went to the gym cause I WANTED TO! – and those of you who know me, you know this MUST be some kind of divine intervention…)

So with this new found strength I’ve decided to make a list of things I will accomplish that DO NOT involve marriage and babies (don’t get me wrong I still want these so stinkin bad I can taste it, but if now is not the time, that’s fine and I will be promptly moving on and letting God run that part of my life.)

1. Go to the Gym indefinitely until I look like somewhere in between Brunette Barbie and Bristol Palin. I want to, in essence, make this my hobby.
2. Continue Prayer- focusing on Trust, patience (in people and in God) and happiness for others.
3. Volunteer at SOMETHING. I don’t know what, but it’s on my agenda.
4. HAVE FUN! Stop being so responsible and enjoy the things that I won’t be able to do when God decides to bless me with a family. This means: not saying no to parties I’m invited to, picking up and going somewhere on the weekends and not making up reasons why it would be better for me to just stay put. Being spontaneous, trying new things.
5. Hopefully have finished the bible in 1 year/or a year and a half. Somewhere in that time frame.
6. STOP SAYING “I CAN’T”. (whenever possible)

So there it is, my new revised list of goals MINUS marriage and babies. Updates to come…. I’m going to close with the serenity prayer (which, NO I am not in AA, although, I think maybe by the American Heart Assc. Standards, I might actually be an alcoholic… but anyway that’s beside the point. MOVING ONNNN….) I just love this prayer and think it is applicable to every aspect of life and encompasses the long and short of everything I want for my life.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”