For those who do not know, I deal with chronic pain daily. The daily part of the chronic started fifteen years ago. A ton of other bullshit goes along with my journey and how I got to where I am now, but I do not want to discuss that in this post.

There is a huge learning curve for anyone who all of a sudden has their life, as they knew it, turned upside down. HUGE!

Two weeks ago, I learned I needed to change my diet for health reasons. I researched the kind of foods I should now be eating. The list was small. The list contained a lot of things I disliked.

Dislike means if I am over at your house for dinner and you are serving me a plate of everything I dislike to eat, I will eat it. I will never stop by your home around dinner or lunchtime again, but I will eat what is on my plate. It is how I was raised. Manners.

In my own home, and at my age, I earned the right to not eat food I disliked. This left me with lean meats, nuts, a few vegetables I can eat if I have to, and beans. Yup. That is my list.

I grew up in a house where my Mother made everything homemade. Yes, I was a brat and used to beg her for store-bought Applesauce. Other than the lack of store-bought treats, we ate very well. My friends growing up, continually wanted to come to my house if my Mom was cooking so they could eat real food.

If Mom wasn't home, I could cook anything I wanted to for my friends and me. I just had to make sure I cleaned up the kitchen when done. I could do that.

My favorite recipe was to cut up two hot dogs. Fry them in butter in a skillet. Once browned on both sides, you sprinkled a boatload of shredded cheddar cheese into the skillet and cooked it until it all melted.

It looked like dog throw-up. It tasted like Heaven. I converted so many friends into eating it. It was always hilarious. I found out a high school friend of mine still makes that to this day. All that to say, I am not a stranger to cooking/baking in a kitchen.

But. The list. IS. Very. Short.

Between going through the seven stages of grief, no, one died or will, I looked up recipes on my old friend Google. I wanted something easy to make. I needed something that made a lot of servings so it would last more than one day. I also needed to be able to eat a lot of it and not get tired of eating the same thing each day.

Layered 7-Bean Salad in a Jar Is the first recipe I came across that looked easy, adaptable, and it would be cheap enough to make weekly.

I had limes instead of lemons, but they are the same thing, so changing that wasn't an issue. I also was just going to make the salad in one bowl. There is no reason to dirty that many dishes! I took out the stuff I didn't like and said a prayer. I hoped it tasted good when I let it sit and get to know each other in the refrigerator for about an hour.

The website also has many other bean-related recipes for me to look at as time passes, and I have the energy to do so.

This bean salad turned out fantastic!! It is an A+ from me.

Three days later, after eating bean salad, crappy green smoothies, and nuts, I needed to find something warm I could eat also. The warm dish is required to follow the same principles as the salad. I had to be able to afford to make it, and it had to be easy on my body. I have been very low on energy as of late.

Instant Pot Lentil Soup was the following recipe I found and tried. I added a package of Italian ground meat to the recipe. This is by no means under the category of lean meats, but I had just spent three days eating beans and crappy green smoothies. I don't think the little bit of meat will kill me.

I do not use my instant pot nearly enough. Thanks, @Shadowspub, for talking me into getting it!! When I do pull it out, I am always amazed at how easy and fast things cook in it. How the flavor is so enhanced from cooking under pressure. The lentil soup turned out fabulous! I had two bowls of it that night and packed the rest in containers to last me the rest of the week. It's Yummy!

It is now Tuesday Night, and I have enough food made that I like in the refrigerator to last me until next week. I am happy. Tired but happy. I can also always add oatmeal into the rotation when I get bored or extra hungry.

So far, in two weeks, I have not gained any weight! That sentence is worth its weight in gold.

What I will be living with is not a diet but a way I will have to eat to live a longer life. I am trying hard to take it slow on incorporating foods I can eat in a way I like how they taste. I do not want to become frustrated and give up caring.

So far, I am happy with my choices. I now get crappy green smoothies that taste like a bright berry-tasting milkshake daily. I save it for a treat to look forward to at the end of my day. The rest is just food which I like the taste of.

I will admit I did buy six chocolate chip cookies, standard-sized, and had three on Saturday and three on Sunday. I think this was a good thing for my mental well-being too.

Now we just hope and pray I keep liking beans! 😹