Countdown until school starts is ON.

Oh, my gosh! Spawn goes back to school this week!

Yes, that was worthy of bold AND italic! These holidays have been long, they have been fun, and they have been strenuous on my mental health. That's not to say I don't love spending time with Spawn, because I do. I really do! It's just that when you are with your children day in, day out, for over a month, things get intense. Especially once they have developed the attitude that comes with being a know-it-all school kid! Like Spawn. He loves to correct me, even when he's wrong. ESPECIALLY when he's wrong!

The weather forecast for today was supposed to be hot, so I told Spawn we could stay home, write up schedules for school days, and then eventually go play outside with the hose and chalk bombs. But then I woke up, the skies were grey, the bureau of meteorology showed massive rain on the horizon and at lunch time, we are yet to surpass 25°. So there goes that. If I had known the weather would be like this, I would have gone to the beach!

Considering there are only two days until Spawn goes back to school, I now have this sudden urge to do all the things we didn't get to do. Figures. We have done the beach a few times, but I want to go explore the rock pools further down. All the tourists have fled home as holidays have technically ended for most, so it will no doubt be super quiet down the coast. It would be an ideal day for rock pools! But no, it's too late and I have now lost motivation to get dressed. I'm also starting to dread another year of packing lunchboxes, washing uniforms and rushing to sports and appointments. Ughhh.

On that note, I have just put bolognese on the stove for dinner tonight (recipe can be found on the previous post). Naturally, it's making me hungry as it smells AMAZING. So I'm off to make lunch. Something lacklustre, to ensure Spawn thoroughly enjoys dinner tonight, lol.

Peace out!

- L. x

Spaghetti Bolognese

I suck at making bolognese. Don't know why, I can just never get it right. <- me, yesterday.
So I asked some knowledgeable friends for help. And would you look at this! I can now make great bolognese! I was missing two ingredients: sugar and Vegemite. Unlikely ingredients, so I don't feel like a horrible cook for not thinking to add them. Well, maybe a little for the sugar, which cuts out the acidity of the tomatoes.

So here is my bolognese recipe, which is now a LOT better than it was! Spawn even had seconds!

INGREDIENTS:
500g beef mince
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 pieces shortcut bacon, diced
1 400g tin diced tomatoes
2 tbspn tomato paste
1 carrot, grated
2 bay leaves
1 tspn paprika
2 tbspn mixed herbs
1/2 tspn Vegemite
1/2 tspn sugar (I used raw, which I dissolved before adding, but brown works best)
1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
1 tbspn soy sauce
1-2 cups beef stock
Optional: sliced mushrooms, chilli

METHOD:
Cook onion, garlic and bacon in a pan over medium heat until the onion begins to soften, then add beef and cook until brown. Add tomatoes and paste, stirring to combine before adding remaining ingredients. NOTE: only add one cup of stock- slowly add more as needed during the cooking time. I ended up adding about 1 1/2 cups of stock in total.
Cook on low for as long as you can - I cooked the sauce for a little under two hours and it was amazing, but I was told up to eight hours makes the meat super tender and delicious.
Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, and add stock or salt as needed, in small increments.

Serve with pasta and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. Alternatively, this makes a fantastic base for lasagna, teamed with the white sauce from my cauliflower cheese recipe! 😍

Enjoy!

- L. x

Jack Daniels Glazed Pork Belly

I saw this video on Facebook and it looked SO amazing that I had to try it! However, I noticed along the way that it would need to be tweaked - a friend also noticed this, so I have amended it for those who dislike having to keep a close eye on new things!
I served it with potato mash and steamed greens, to kind of level out the decadence. Overall, it took about 4.5 hours to cook this, start to finish.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pork belly, approx 800g
100ml Jack Daniels
1 star anise
Salt & pepper
- sauce
100ml Jack Daniels
4 tbspn tomato sauce/ketchup
2 tbspn soy sauce
2 tbspn honey

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 160°C. Grab a medium disposable baking tray (or any tray big enough to fit the pork) and pour in Jack Daniels. Put the pork into the tray and then rub salt and pepper into the rind before adding the star anise. Cook in oven for 2.5 hours.
Allow pork to cool for 1 hour before removing rind and cutting pork into bite-size pieces (around 1.5cm square). Cook in 180° oven for 20 minutes - pork should be starting to have a golden appearance on top. Meanwhile, place all sauce ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat, and stir until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
Increase oven temperature to 190°. Drizzle sauce over pork and then gently mix around to ensure all pork is covered. Return to oven for a further 20 minutes, or until pork is caramelised.
The video served it with some kind of white sauce, but it is also great with a creamy, buttery mash!

Enjoy!

- L. x

P.S. I loved this so much that I forgot to take a photo of it once it was done, aside from the taunting snapchats!

School holidays.

Am I a bad parent?
Why does spending so much quality time with my child frustrate me?
Why are we both looking forward to the beginning of the school year?!!

These are but a few questions that run rampant in my mind during school holidays. I feel so inadequate as a parent. Some days I just want to lock Spawn in his room for a few hours, so I can have time to breathe on my own. Other days I get excited about the possibilities of the fun things we can do together! But then push comes to shove and we end up doing nothing, as I dread the possibility of a meltdown, tantrum, poor attitude, shitty people, or wanting something I cannot afford.
Why?!! Why can't I just enjoy time with Spawn, while I have it?! Lord knows he is growing up faster than I could ever imagine. It is only a matter of time before he is packing his things and moving out to start his own life. This, by the way, is a fucking terrifying prospect! When this happens, I will be entirely on my own. And that is nobody's fault but my own.

Why do school holidays often bring out the contemplative, depressing thoughts?
I often wonder this. Why? I mean, happy times! I'm a Christmas lover, so the month or two before Christmas is always a fun time. However, with the dismantling of the tree comes the disappearance of my cherry disposition. I become grouchy. Like a post-Christmas Grinch. How depressing. At least Spawn is having a great time. I signed him up for the Scholastic summer reading challenge and he has already racked up over 3,000 minutes reading! My little bookworm. <3

I'm currently making plans and hoping to stick to them. We have a (hopefully) good week of weather ahead of us, and I am determined to make some fun memories!!! Please, whoever is watching, let this happen!! Let me be the cool, fun mum again!!! Let me be the fun-spirited L again. Let me just ....I don't know? Live again.

Hope you're all enjoying summer! I'm loving this warm spell!

Peace out.

- L. x

Bacon & Cheese Cob

I have always loved a good cob loaf. Never in my life have I made one though, until new year's eve. I was feeling festive, so googled some recipes and found one that took my fancy!
This recipe is not my own - I mainly blog my recipes so I can find them anywhere, anytime. I'm organised with my spontaneity like that. I also like to come back and tweak recipes occasionally, to make them more my own style. Yes, I have my own cooking style. Usually involves insane levels of flavour. I'm all about those spices!

So here's the recipe. I hope you like it as much as myself and Spawn did!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cob loaf
200g bacon, diced
1 small onion, finely diced
250g cream cheese, softened
3 tbspn chives, chopped, plus extra for serving
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup thickened cream
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used cheddar - use whichever - the richer, the more decadent the dip will be)
Salt & pepper, to season

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180° (or 160° fanforced). Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Cut 4cm off top of cob loaf to form lid. Scoop bread from centre of loaf, leaving 1.5cm edge. Tear or roughly chop bread pieces.
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until bacon is browned and onion has softened. Remove from heat, before adding chives to bacon mix. Stir in creamed cheese and mix until combined. Add cream, sour cream and grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon mixture into loaf. Arrange lid and bread pieces in a single layer around loaf. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly toasted. Sprinkle top of dip with extra chives. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

- L. x