While I was working, and especially when I was working and being a caregiver, I fell into the habit of buying pre-made meals or fast food (Arby's, McDonald's, chinese, etc.). There just wasn't time or energy available for me to slice, dice, chop, peel, and then saute, broil or roast. Not to mention serve, feed the patient, feed myself, clean up the table and the patient, wash the dishes...and get ready to go to work the next day.

Home cooked meal just wasn't happening.

But things are different now, vastly different, and I am working at adjusting my lifestyle to match. There is both the time and the desire to eat well. It's no secret that fast food and pre-made foods are full of salt, sugar, preservatives and hydrogenated oils. And I'm sure that one of the reasons my health, while good, is not excellent, is due to my previous fast-food eating habits.

Luckily for me, my housemate is of a similar mind, and so our mutual desire to eat healthy, home-prepared foods works in tandem. There is one drawback, though: she likes foods that I have found to be inflammation inducers (pork, eggs, for instance), but we can work around that.

So...this morning I took a bag of 15-bean soup mix (or is it 17 bean? I forget.) and put it in a pan on the stove to soak. Tonight or tomorrow morning I'll rinse and add more water, put it on to simmer with some leftovers from the fridge (or not). Every pot is different, depending on what I toss into it.

It will make a huge kettle of nice, thick, bean soup. We'll eat some now and freeze the rest for later. Couldn't be easier. Tasty, good for you, a snap to make.

What else? I'm cruising the cookbook for ideas.