Kat- congrats to and to your hubs! I'm a type I, so I get so excited when i hear about type IIs getting control using diet and exercise
Personally making flax muffins or coconut biscuits once in a while, but i wouldn't do it too often- they mess with my stomach.
Over the past 11 or so years i have been low carb, i eventually found presentation makes a tremendous difference in how people perceive a dish. let me give an example or two from recent dinners:
1. We are having chicken with green beans tonight.
We are having a bed of roast lemon garlic green beans, with balsamic chicken on top, sprinkled with crushed red pepper and parsley. Throw a slice of lemon on top for extra dazzle power (You can let it roast with green beans).
2. We are having shrimp and broccoli tonight.
We are having a bed of roasted broccoli slaw topped with garlic lemon shrimp and crushed red pepper, parmesan and parsley. You could also top the slaw with marinara and then the shrimp and parm.
etc....basically, i have noticed making the veggies a "bed" with the protein on top makes people eat more veggies, because it doesn't look like a huge pile next to the meat. and it looks "fancy."
also, switching up prep techniques can make a huge difference. for example, once we discovered grilling romaine at a restaurant, i found we could easily get through 2.5 hearts for 2 adults at dinner, as it shrinks. and it feels special....
similarly, roasting brussels made them a favorite for the fella, who thought he hated them, mashing cauli won him over, etc.....
experimenting is key, and can be frustrating....what do you MEAN you don't like zoodles???? but over time we are finding what works for us- he dislikes zoodles, so fine we use broccoli slaw as our go to "pasta sub."
keep up the hard work- i would do anything to be off insulin