Whoa nellie!  Another one to add to the meal list because everyone enjoyed it.

8 thick pork sausages, pricked (I used 8 thin beef sausages as they were what I could find)

1 Tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped (I used a Spanish onion as I find them sweeter)

420g can baked beans in barbecue sauce (we buy and used plain no added salt)

400g can diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp chilli sauce (didn’t put this in)

1 Tbsp chopped parsley, thick toast, to serve

1. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on high.  Cook sausages, turning, for 10-12 minutes until well browned and cooked through.  Cut them into chunks and transfer onto a plate.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan (er, I used the same pan as above because it has deep sides and who wants more dishes??) on high.  Saute onion for 1-2 minutes, until tender.  Stir in baked beans and tomatoes.  Bring to the boil, stirring.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
3. Blend in maple syrup and sauces (since my baked beans were non-barbecue and as I didn’t use chilli sauce, I stirred through 2 Tbsp HP Sauce for a bit of flavour).  Reduce heat to low and add back the sausages.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Season to taste.  Serve topped with parsley, with toast on the side.

I also served  green beans as it was all looking a bit too tan/red/brown for my liking and everyone liked everything.  Quite impressed with this new book.

In other news, I became a bit of a Do-It-Yourself plumber today.  At some stage overnight our bathroom vanity decided it wasn’t going to drain properly and this morning after brushing my teeth and rinsing out my toothbrush, the sink filled up.  The plunger was sitting beside the vanity after Alex’s previous attempt at clearing the blockage, so I picked it up and had a go.  Let me tell you this:  I did not get the sink unblocked and the water flowing down the drain freely until almost 5 or 6pm tonight (evenings are generally a blur around here; who knows what the time was!).  It took a lot of trial and error and a bit of thinking outside the square.  I noticed our bathroom sink drains out after passing the bath drain to go into the main pipe, so ended up taking the plunger to the bath.  After a few goes of the bath, then some bicarb, vinegar and boiling water down the vanity, a big BURP by the sink and ahhhh… a free flowing drain.

Meanwhile, while M was at kinder and G fell asleep in the car on the drive home, I pulled weeds from our front garden’s hydrangea bed.  It was so feral, I had to actually use tools from the shed, even though I’d started off thinking, “Oh I’ll just pull them up before I go inside…”  Ha, yeah right!  I spent two hours - TWO HOURS - weeding that garden bed.  It’s done now though and looks really nice and I have a bit of an idea what needs doing there.  The hydrangeas could use a little more pruning so they all come up relatively the same next spring and the entire bed needs remulching.  I think they were last mulched with a pine bark or something, but it appears the neighbours cat likes to dig (read: wee and poo) in the garden bed, so will have to look at pebbles maybe.

Once M was home from kinder the boys watched a bit of TV while I was busy with the bathroom sink.  I’ve started a bit of a routine where once ABC Kids is finished, the TV is turned off and they do “colour” (G’s word for it) while I prepare dinner.  They can draw in their new sketch books or picture colouring books and use crayons, markers or pencils, whatever they fancy.  It’s a nice way to signal the start of winding down for the night and if I’m waiting for something to simmer or boil, I can grab a marker and join in.

Feels nice to be blogging again :)  Here’s a recent family photo for you.

These were a HIT!  Even M, our resident vegetarian, ate dinner tonight thanks to kid-friendly mountain bread and do-it-yourself veges to fill up the wrap with.

Meatball Wraps

250g beef or lamb mince (we used lamb)

1 small carrot, coarsely grated

1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp chopped parsley (left it out as not enough in herb garden to pick)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

Mountain or Lavash bread, hummus, shredded lettuce, red capsicum (seeded and thinly sliced) and grated tasty cheese.

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180C.  Line a baking tray with baking paper (I just spray the tray with oil).
2. In a bowl, combine mince, carrot, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg and tomato sauce.  Season to taste
3. Mould tablespoonfuls of mince mixture into balls (or wing it and grab little bits with your fingers).  Place on prepared baking tray.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and cooked through.  Drain on paper towel.
4. Spread bread with hummus.  Top with lettuce, capsicum, cheese and halved meatballs.  Roll up and serve.

(From Woman’s Day Marvellous Mince & More)

I doubled the recipe, which made up roughly 30 meatballs, and there are some leftover for Alex to take to work for lunch tomorrow.  There are some tips included with the recipe such as using tomato chutney in place of hummus, rocket or tabbouli instead of lettuce, and crumbled feta instead of grated cheese.  I was thankful for the hummus though, because as I mentioned the small vegetarian above, it meant he got some protein with his meal.  G just had mounds of ingredients on his plate and played around with the mountain bread.  A thoroughly enjoyed meal that we will SO be having again.

xx