A simple dish of lightly seasoned pasta with potatoes, onions and peas. Simple, filling, comfort food and one of my year-round favorites, but a great option for Lent too.

Pasta with Peas

Lent has arrived, so I'll be sharing some very simple, non-recipe "recipes" over the next couple weeks to add to my list of Lent-friendly meal ideas. Some you will likely be familiar with already for Lent, others may be a reminder of recipes you've forgotten about.

Most of them, like this one, actually come from the Depression-era, when meals were simple, cheap, filling and meat free. They are actually meals that I eat throughout the year, especially if I'm on my own for dinner.

Poulet de France - Chicken and Dressing Casserole

This chicken and dressing casserole is an old school well-loved dish in the South. It goes by many names - Poulet de France, Poulet de Normandy, Poulet Chicken or simply Poulet - made with cooked chicken, stuffing mix, milk sauce, topped with cream soup, and finished with cheese.

Poulet de France

I have mentioned here before that once upon a time I did the Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) system {affil link} where you spend one weekend essentially cooking meals to freeze for the month. I did it with a small upright refrigerator freezer too and I loved it. The internet was a different place back then and nothing like it is now, so everything occurred on bulletin boards and forums.

Anybody else remember when AOL, Prodigy and CompuServe were the top three ways to the internet and you could only access them with a dial up connection, meaning that you had to tie up your home phone line? There was no such thing as a smartphone in those days. Boy oh boy am I datin' muhself there. It really is funny to think back now to how the internet and technology has changed so much over the years - more slowly back then, but at lightning speed these days. You barely buy a new device these days before the next generation is already out!

Inexpensive, filling and belly warmin', large lima beans have always been a favorite bean in the south, and now, they are made easy with the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Large Lima Beans

Beans are a popular meal down here, and we eat them year round in the south. Heck, red beans and rice dinners are practically a religion down here along the Gulf Coast, and a diner staple every single Monday of the year, all year long.

Even with slow stewing on the stovetop, these beans don't require a lot of tending to, but factor in the Instant Pot, or whatever electronic or stovetop pressure cooker you favor, and they are done with little prep and in no time. I don't even saute the veggies - though you certainly can.

Chicken wings with a zing! Meaty chicken wings, coated with a lightly spicy rub and marinated in the fridge for an hour or up to overnight, baked and tossed with a simple, classic buttery hot sauce or tossed in a wing glaze.

Deviled Chicken Wings

I love chicken wings! I'm constantly playing around with them, trying different seasonings and different cooking methods - baked, air fried, smoked, grilled, slow cooker, and yes, even in one of those microwave Rangemate grills! {affil link} Each of them provides a little different feel and texture and benefits, but I've yet to run across a wing I didn't like.