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