My wife has dropped the low carb deal after a couple of weeks. She says dropped "temporarily". She did not lose weight. So, now, it's "Egg-fast". Includes eggs in just about everything. I gotta admit, a few of the concoctions she has made (always asks me to "taste", if I decline vigorously, she is not pleased!), tasted better than they looked! But, she's happy: in 3 weeks she's lost 7 pounds. We have been staying away from the Casino Buffets even though they send us each two "buy one get one free" every month. That, plus the AVI Casino offers BOGO on Mondays and Thursdays, no vouchers, no requirements. Then, there is Tropicana with their $1.99 Buffets on certain days, etc. Glutton is my middle name! The month running out, we hate to "waste" those wonderful eating offers, so today I relented, and we ate lunch at the Edgewater for half price. It was wonderful, the highlight for me being grilled fish; I had 4 pieces! So, now, 9 hours later, facing a fretful night's sleep with an empty belly, I concocted something new, for me. Fridge is full of Tortillas, wife can't eat 'em, carbs., I normally don't, but BEANS sounded so good, I opened a can of seasoned Black Beans, put 1/2 the can in my trusty cookpan, about 3 TBSP. Olive Oil, 1/4 cup of my wife's Herdez salsa, a bit of No-Salt, and cooked this mix until the water was all gone, mashing the beans as I mixed it, then spread it on one of the Whole Wheat Tortillas in the fridge, rolled it up, twisted up the ends, there was no leaky juices to dribble out, and surprised myself with a genuine Mexican-looking "Burrito" that beat the offerings I've had in restaurants! Just delicious! Being a glutton, even though I thought of my friends here, desiring a picture of my creation, I have to admit, I had to finish the dang thing before it got cold! Sorry! Years back, I cooked very little. Divorced, for a couple years, I ate mostly junk food in dives. My first wife spoiled me for absolutely wonderful Polish traditional cooking. 'Course, my Mom helped with the lifelong Czech cuisine I experienced. My 2nd. wife has less ethnic background, though her Mom is of German heritage. Growing up, she ate frozen pot pies, drank Kool-Aid, lots of grilled cheese sandwiches. She had 2 years of "Home-Ec" in H.S., though, and picked up quite a bit there. OTOH, she has the learned ability from adulthood of using a microwave oven to prepare virtually any dish or meal, pastries, cakes, you name it! I am a well-fed Glutton, if nothing else! Frank
I envy you being so close to those buffets. I would be as big as a house and still shoveling in the goodies. My cousin does very well on low carb diets. She lost 70 pounds on the Atkins plan. But she could only have 20 carbs a day. She ate veggies like green beans, mushrooms, onions, cabbage, and tomatoes.