Salmon - Rushed Dinner

I didn't take a picture of this but I want to write it here because I did something that I haven't done before and I think it worked well.

I got a nice big piece of salmon and cut it into 2 pieces (1 for me and one for the boy). I heated some olive oil in a pan, added 2 cloves of garlic put the salmon in and fried it so the outside was golden but the inside was still a little tender.

In a second pan, I fried a whole punnet of button mushrooms (sliced) in a small knob of butter until they turned golden brown. The mushrooms readily absorb the butter so it's pretty much a dry heat.  Then I added a mountain of spinach and let it cook for about 1 minute. I then poured a small amount of vegetable stock in  keep it moist but didn't want to add more fat.

Served with cous cous.

It probably took about 10mins to make, was reasonably healthy and made enough for lunches the next day too.

Baked Aubergine with Cheese and Basil

My husband could not poop. We tried a fybogel, we tried fluids, but alas, pooping did not happen. I googled  anti-constipation foods and read that aubergine (egg-plant) and broccoli are good at getting things moving. Armed with this information, I browsed BBC Good Food with my husbands bowels on my mind.

The result was this recipe, for baked aubergine with tomato, mozzarella & Parmesan. Everyone really liked it. My son was explicit that this is easily the most delicious meal that I've made under the guise of healthy family meals. He was torn between being excited to eat it all immediately and keen to keep leftovers for his lunch the next day. My husband agreed and they both had second helpings, and it made enough that we had plenty left over for lunches as well.

baked aubergine

The important thing to note is that there was an entire ball of mozzarella, the majority of a pack of Parmesan and an entire bottle of olive oil in this meal. The likelihood is that it is not going help us get into our swimming costumes with pride this summer. It is, however, vegetarian and full of fresh ingredients, so presumably, we're not going to have rickets.

baked aubergine served with broccoli

p.s.
my husband pooped about 5 minutes before the meal hit the table, so I can't speak to the digestive properties of this meal.