Egg noodles, seasoned simply, tossed with butter, Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley.

Parmesan Cheesy Noodles

Growing up, I'm guessing that your mom, like mine, had a few, very simple, go-to side dishes that made it to the table. Buttered egg noodles or chunks of boiled potatoes or corn, usually from frozen at my house, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, tossed with butter and often, a bit of parsley were pretty common for us.

Looks like economic conditions are calling for these simple but filling meals again.

Add some cheese to those egg noodles, oven roasted potatoes when the weather isn't too hot, dressed up canned southern peas and my quick fix green beans to the repertoire, and you've got my most common, easy fix, side dishes today.

Chopped cabbage, smothered down with the trinity of vegetables, ground sausage and tomatoes.

Smothered Cabbage with Sausage and Tomato

Well hey y'all - wow, it's a new year already... Happy New Year! Okay we're more than a week into it now, but what can I say? I've been busy with life.

Mercy was it cold enough this January for everybody though?

I know that in comparison to the rest of the country, here on the Gulf Coast we had it pretty easy. No snow, but the cold rain that rolled in right when the temps started dropping sure would have made for a pretty blanket of snow. We did have three nights in a row where things were freezing, two of which were hard freezes, and with the high winds, daytime temps weren't a whole lot better, so for us here in the Deep South, it was cold!