Not that I’m trying to rush anybody, but I feel like this week I haven’t had the luxury of more than fifteen minutes to get dinner ready. And I am feeling super duper guilty about even thinking dinner, because I’m worried that I’m going to get a call about Ferd’s lunch. Ferdinand’s bread came home in his lunch bag with peanut butter on it, and I didn’t put it there. Now I know he didn’t put it there, because he won’t eat peanut butter, which in my mind (not always accurate) means that somebody who thought he wasn’t getting enough lunch put it there. Granted, there wasn’t a whole lot of options in the lunch bag for him, but the only thing he will eat is bread and butter, apple, carrots and raisins. I can put a hard boiled egg in there, little bits of chicken with noodles, or a cold hot dog but all those things do is travel. It’s a free ride from my kitchen to the school, a quick jump out of the lunch bag, and then back in for the ride home. He just doesn’t eat lunch at school. He waits until he gets home and has fifty six snacks. That leaves me fifteen minutes for dinner.

Buy the freshest piece of salmon that you can. Get your iron frying pan hot. Drizzle in a little of your beautiful olive oil and a clove of garlic. Your heat should be just over medium. Nothing should ever be screaming at you from the pan when you are searing. As soon as the garlic is golden, get it out of there. Season your salmon on both sides, and put it skin side up into the pan. Don’t touch it until the sides of the flesh whiten a bit on top. Flip and cook for just another minute or until the minute it’s no longer pink. Get it out of the pan so that it stops cooking. Meanwhile, bring one and a half cups of water to the boil with some salt, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprig of thyme. Pour the boiling water into a bowl with the garlic clove that you took out of the pan that you used for the salmon, and a cup of couscous. Cover well with plastic wrap. In a little frying pan, heat up some olive oil and add one sliced shallot. Stir around while you wait for the couscous. When both are done, fluff up the couscous with a fork, add the shallots, taste for salt, and give a drizzle of lime juice, and a little more olive oil. In a little salted boiling water, add a few handfuls of fresh string beans or a bunch of asparagus. Cook covered, for just two or three minutes, drain well, and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and add a few whole garlic cloves cut in half. Lime on the salmon is excellent as well. Hard boiled egg is really good with this if you happen to have a few leftover ones from your son’s LUNCH!