Eggplant and kids

It has been a busy week for me. I am back at work part time, kids have play dates I am trying to keep up with and we are constantly running around doing one job after another, weather it be getting signed up for school, dentist appointments or dragging the kids grocery shopping. By the end of the day I am knackered!

  We are not a huge meat eating family, not through choice- I have decided I only will buy organic-preservative, steroid, mad cow free meat. For us this means cutting down on the amount we eat due to the growing prices. It is not a bad thing really because when you finally get to having the juicy New York strip steak at the end of the month- it tastes like heaven on earth! Eggplant (that's aubergine for those of you in Europe) however does not have the same association when telling my boys what's for dinner. 

  I had an eggplant sitting in the fridge for a week- they do last a very long time. I was heading out the door to go to book club in 30 minutes and I needed to eat. The boys had already eaten due to the crazy schedule of this week and they will again eat by themselves the next night so I wanted them to at least eat a delicious meal while I was at work. Max saw me cutting up the eggplant, rolled his eyes and of course said "YUCK!"- typical comment, however I told him he will be eating it tomorrow night. This bought much wining and moaning, I told him I'd serve it with toasted almonds and he said he'd 'just pick out the almonds and be done with it'.

 Well, I made the eggplant and cooked it up with tomatoes, peas and a touch of chili flakes. Served it with couscous and toasted almonds- Beautiful!  The crunchy almonds complimented the eggplants soft silky  texture really well and the hint of chili rounded off the flavor. I was really happy with the out come and I did it in 30 minutes- you have got to love couscous when you are doing a meal on the fly.

 The next day I told Nic to serve Alex's with a little plain yogurt to reduce the chili bite and wait and see for Max. This morning I dare ask how dinner went....."Great! the boys ate it all up without complaint" I couldn't believe it after the conversation I had with Max the day before. Nic did say they asked "what is this black stuff" with Nic replying "there is nothing black in there- now who wants a story?" with that they continued eating and most importantly- enjoying. 

I understand eggplant isn't the first choice for a family meal but it is totally doable- you just need to add a bit of nutty crunch, a touch of chili for some people and the smooth yogurt for others, oh and don't mention the 'black stuff'.