As a busy working solo mama I love to stick to quick, easy and nutritional meals for me and my little one.
I’ve teamed up with @simplybeefandlamb and @britmums and have been kindly gifted a £10 gift card to spend and show you one of my favourite recipes I make and enjoy regularly.
At every meal I always like to ensure there is a good ratio of nutrients and beef is one of our preferred protein sources. It also provides eight essential vitamins and minerals that support good health and well-being. It’s so versatile I cook chilli, lime crispy beef, koftas, lasagne, cottage pie, bolognese pizza is a firm fave too!
My go to for a quick easy meal, with a slight twist to the usual method is my baked meatballs with pasta. I find if we’ve been super busy with life, I don’t want to spend ages over a frying pan – I find cooking the meatballs in the oven retains the moisture and stops them from being dry too. I’ve made this as a staple for a long time now, and I love that Alden enjoys it too – he was eating this from when he was baby led weaning and liked that he could pick up the meatballs and ‘snakes’
So here we go!
Ingredients;
250g Lean Beef Mince (Less than 5% fat)
1/2 Red Onion (or a full one if you’d like)
1/2 can of chopped tomatoes.
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
30g breadcrumbs
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 Beef Stock pot / cube
150g Linguine or pasta of choice – Tagliatele is nice too.
30g Cheddar
Handful of Spinach
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil of choice.
Pinch of brown sugar
Method;
Prep everything, boil a full kettle, get your chopping board, mixing bowl, pan, oven proof dish ready, and other equipment ready.
Pre heat your oven to 180 fan assisted – adjust accordingly for your oven type.
I whizz my red onion in a food processor – quicker and less tears!
Place 6-8 generous spoonfuls in your oven proof dish.
In a mixing bowl add your beef, breadcrumbs and half your oregano, salt and pepper and mix until combined. Divide the mixture and roll into 6-8 meatballs.
Sit the meatballs on top of the grated red onion and drizzle over some olive oil – i use garlic infused oil for extra taste. Put the dish in the oven until the onion starts to soften.
Meanwhile with your boiled kettle, dissolve your stock pot/cube with 150ml water add in the tomato paste and the remainder of the oregano, give it a good stir until the stock is mixed in, add your chopped tomatoes. Add this to your oven proof dish and cook in the oven until the meatballs have cooked – approx 25 mins – depends on the size of your balls!
While that cooks, with the rest of your boiled water add it to a pan with a generous pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil – stops the past sticking. Cook it as per your packet instructions and drain.
Add your washed spinach to the meatballs for a few mins before the end so it starts to wilt then mix to coat in the sauce. Serve with some grate cheese on top and season.
The reason I like this dish is I can do the quick prep at the start, leave it to cook and spend quality time with my dude. If you want to add some more veg like I often do – secretly I whizz some carrot or some slice mushrooms with the onions to give it more texture and goodness. I always make too much, and store it for another day – freezing it or taking it to work for lunch the next day when it tastes even more yummy!
If you make this recipe let me know what you think!
This post is an entry for the #MeatMatters Challenge, sponsored by Simply Beef and Lamb. Learn more about the benefits of cooking and eating beef and lamb along with recipe ideas and inspiration here!
Life with Alden Jax 