20 Minute Garlic Butter Spaghetti with Pesto Roasted Cherry Tomatoes – Bakemas Day 3

Sometimes you just need a big ol’ bowl of pasta and today is definitely one of those days.

Healthy Spaghetti Bolognese

You know when you’re a child and some things are just a certain way and you never question anything to be different. Example: both my granddads and my dad were/are really into photography so growing up my sister and I had film cameras and as a kid I thought it was normal to have multiple cameras in the house and found it extremely odd when I had friends at school who’s parents didn’t even own a camera. I feel like this is making me sound old. Anyway the point I’m trying to make is at a young age you never really question some of the things you grow up with, well obviously I didn’t, case in point I never knew white spaghetti was a thing.
We ate multi coloured frusilli pasta, I think I vaguely remember eating white bow pasta and shells but when it came to spaghetti it was always brown and that was just normal to me. It wasn’t until I was about 10 maybe that I realised white spaghetti existed, I was probably at a restaurant but I mostly remember thinking why is this pasta so slimy. Obviously I’ve been on the whole wheat bandwagon since birth and even though I now know it exists I’ve still never bought white spaghetti.
This is another one of those “mother knows best” recipes! Spaghetti bolognese has been my favourite meal for as long as I can remember but specifically this Bolognese. It’s the way my mum makes it, and due to my life time obsession it’s the way I make it and I think it was probably one of the first meals I learnt to cook.
Let’s talk healthy; you don’t need oil to cook this, if possible buy the minced beef with the lowest fat content and always cook the meat first and drain the fat that comes out. We usually add courgette and carrot but when I was at uni I added pretty much any vegetable I could find, it’s a good way to bulk it out and make it stretch further, you might need another tin of tomatoes but feel free to go vegetable crazy. Like I said earlier I’m a supporter of whole wheat pasta which makes things a little healthier too but it also tastes great with courgetti if you have a spiralizer.
Even though this is healthy I can’t resist adding all the cheese, a few parmesan shavings would be the healthy way, or no cheese I guess but that thought makes me incredibly sad. If you’re trying to resist your love for cheese avert your eyes, I like to double up on my cheese; grated mature cheddar mixed in so it melts into everything and parmesan on top, I can almost taste it. I mean you’re being healthy with the bolongese you can splurge on the cheese right? If you’re going to eat it, eat it right! but shh I didn’t say that.

Sausage & Vegetable Pasta with Parmesan Shavings - Bakemas Day 10

Being ill and busy is not a recipe for feeling festive, and not feeling festive is not good considering there’s only 14 days till Christmas WHAT? 14 days! I still haven’t started sorting out Christmas presents; I haven’t even cleared away the boxes from decorating my tree. I’m also seriously lacking in the Christmas film department, usually by this time I’ve watched all three Santa clause movies at least 10 times and I haven’t even got through the first one once, I got half way through and realised it was 4am and should probably go to bed. As of right now I’m being a terrible festive person this year; I need to up the festivities. I think my life needs more mince pies, and more Christmas decorations.
I think this is the first pasta recipe I’ve put up here, I mean I love pasta but I don’t actually eat it that much because it bloats me just a tad. Pasta bakes are usually my favourite though, with a generous helping of cheese, that and sauceless pasta with meat/veg/cheese etc. Spaghetti Bolognese, how could I forget that? Anyway, this is a quick simple, but incredibly yummy dinner. Really easy to throw together, takes about 20 minutes from start to finish so you have more time to do festive things.

Macaroni Cheese with Salmon & Cheesy Breadcrumb Topping

Do you want to play spot the difference? Because one of these is made with almond milk. I think my distaste for cow’s milk severely impeded my ability to enjoy macaroni cheese while growing up. A couple of months ago while a friend was staying over she persuaded me to have mac and cheese for dinner, we’d made cheese sauce with almond milk for lasagne before but never for just macaroni cheese. We spent about 20 minutes adding this and that and trying it over and over but I’d say it was a hit because we ended up making it twice in three days. A couple of months later and I think I’ve perfected the art of almond milk mac and cheese and it’s all about the seasoning, do not skip the mustard powder. Okay, you can use any milk for this recipe, it’s not just a recipe for almond milk cheese sauce, I’ve made it for my parents with cow’s milk and I imagine it would work just as well with soy, hazelnut, rice, or whatever other milk you’re into. I would just say that if your milk is sweet you may have to add a little more salt. Salmon macaroni cheese was something my mum made for us as kids and it’s kind of the only time I specifically remember enjoying it at a young age so although this was sort of an excuse for me to eat it, it’s definitely share worthy. So when my macaroni-cheese-obsessed-salmon-hating friend decides to get her butt back in the country I will convert her.