@contentandwell Twelve cousins! I can't imagine, but I bet you had fun and laughter and maybe some disagreements, even. I know you definitely were not bored or lonely.
Carol

I can't imagine any food tasting bland and like cardboard, diabetes or not. I don't follow a listed diabetes diet, either. I count the number of carbs in my eating and quit when I reach a reasonable level for me. Some of my mother's cooking was bland and overcooked, but I quickly learned to cook fresh, delicious food with a taste I enjoyed, and I purchased food on a strict budget. Perhaps my best cooking came from using the huge supply from my garden, and learning to hold food in the oven until my men came in from the fields late. I eat a veggie pizza with a thin crust once in a while and stay very busy to use up the calories. I find it is important for me to get protein in each meal and not to eat snacks which was a chore at first. If you don't bring high carbs in the house, then you check the computer to find interesting flavors in new foods, and soon you are cooking new foods that are satisfying, except for maybe quinoa. I never found a flavor in that product, whatever it is. And hummus. I tried, it a meal with my friend. I was polite. But no, it doesn't work for me. Rye bread has flavor. Parsley has flavor. Also, I cook veggies in the microwave. They taste pretty good warmed over the next day. I don't eat canned goods very much. Perhaps that is the secret for some foods. My home canned tomatoes taste better. My daughter leaves the room when I drink V-8 juice but I like the acquired taste. My poor husband would eat sour cottage cheese. Go figure. Put some cheese on it.
Dorisena