Yummy Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti bolognese is a favorite in almost everyone's homes I think, and there are so so many ways to make it, I myself have a few different ways I make it, depending how I'm feeling at the time. This recipe is the one I chose to use today. I love this one as the sauce has a lovely creamy texture without using butter.

This recipe makes enough to feed a family of 5 twice. You will need:

• 900g beef or pork mince
• 4 rashes of bacon, diced
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1 420g can condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 cup of beef stock
• 2 tbsp (1 sachet) of tomato paste

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium to high heat. Fry the onion and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the mince and bacon and fry for 5 minutes or until browned. Add the veggies, soup, stock and tomato paste. Give it a good mix and cover it. Leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve with spaghetti, Parmesan and garlic bread.

The sauce freezers perfectly in an airtight container. If you want to freeze spaghetti with the sauce then you just need to under-cook the spaghetti a bit.

Egg-Free Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

None of us here are allergic to egg however so many times I've craved a chocolate self-saucing pudding only to get to the fridge to find that I'm out of eggs yet again. So Yay! It isn't as good as my normal recipe but definitely scoff-able! In fact, I may have eaten the left-overs the second the kids were in bed the following night!

For the 'cake' you will need:

1 cup of SR flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

40g butter, melted

For the 'sauce' you will need:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Like all my recipes, this one is super easy!

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine all the cake ingredients. Make sure the batter is smooth. Pour into a baking dish.

Combine the brown sugar and cocoa powder for the sauce and sprinkle over the cake. Pour the water over the top and pop it in the oven. Bake for about 35-40 minutes.

Serve with ice-cream.

Enjoy! I will post my usual recipe next time I make it.

2 Ingredient Chocolate Fudge

This recipe is my easiest yet. As you probably got from there being 2 ingredients! 

I've gotta say, this certainly isn't as good as my mums recipe however it took me years to finally get her recipe out of her, if i shared it online.. well.. I'm not sure I would live to write another post ;-)

Anyway, here it is;

Like I said, not as good as mums, but still yummy!

The two ingredients are:

• one tin of sweetened condensed milk; and 
• one bag of (Coles Brand) milk chocolate chip melts

Chuck them both in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for a few minutes until melted. Make sure you take it out a few times and give it a good mix, I would hate to see how it would turn out if you cooked it! 

Here is where I cheated (as if cooking with only two ingredients isn't cheating enough!), I used my mini muffin tin to make mini individual chocolates. Because why cut up a big slab when I don't have to? Granted, they were a little bit of a pain to take out because they don't go as hard as I expected. But knowing my luck something would have gone wrong if I made it as a big slice anyway.

Pop them in the fridge and let them set. I think it only took about an hour.

All in all, this is a cheap, quick and easy fudge, and pretty yummy too! These would make a nice little treat for a birthday party.

Vegemite and Cheese scrolls

You will need:

• 3 cups SR flour
• A pinch of salt
• 60g butter, diced and at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• Vegemite
• Tasty cheese
• Plain flour for kneading

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray.

Sift the SR flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Rub the butter into the flour with the tips of your fingers until the flour slightly resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually add the milk. mix together until it is a dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Roll it into a rectangle until it is about 1/2 a cm thick. Spread the Vegemite over the dough (I found this easiest with a spatula) and sprinkle over the cheese. The amount will depend on the desired taste.

Roll the dough up and cut to desired thickness. Place, cut side up/down, onto the tray and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Once cooled they can be frozen in snaplock bags. They make delicious alternatives to sandwiches in school lunches.

My Favorite Smoothie

This recipe will make two.

You will need:

• 1 small tub of CHOBANI strawberry yogurt
• 1 frozen banana, chopped (I chop it before freezing)
• 1 big handful of frozen mixed berries
• about 1/2 cup skim milk, depending on how thick you want it

Chuck it all in a blender and blend until smooth.

I love this recipe because it is just so thick and fruity and icy! There is no need for ice-cream when you use frozen fruit.

Chewy Raspberry M&M Cookies

Here are the ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup SR flour
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup raspberry flavored M&M's

Pre-Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Melt the butter then pour it into a large bowl. Add the brown and caster sugars and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth and the sugar is mostly dissolved.

Lightly whisk the egg and add it to the bowl. Mix

Sift the flours and baking powder together and gradually add it to the bowl, mixing until smooth. Stir through the M&M's.

Roll the mixture into balls the size of a tablespoon and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden and cracked.

Yummo!!

For quick and easy cookies next time, you can make an extra batch and then instead of cooking it, roll the dough into a log, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it. That way, next time you want cookies, you can just slice the log at about 1/2cm thickness and bake for 20 minute or until golden and cracked like the picture above.