#ThankGoodness for the mid-week Dolmio saviour

I was recently challenged by BritMums along with Dolmio to create a #ThankGoodness mid-week meal from a hamper of delicious ingredients that were delivered straight to my door.

I’m always on the look out for ways for us to eat healthier as a family (aren’t we all!) but I often fall foul to the usual excuse of being too busy and the main reason is usually down to fussy children. I have to say that my eldest is on the whole, an absolute joy to feed compared to my younger children and occasionally my husband!

Bolognese has always been a firm favourite with me but not so much the rest of my family. I’m quite simple, I’d happily eat bolognese, lasagne, meatballs and chilli every week. I do love a bit of beef or turkey mince and actually turkey mince is our preferred meat in our house. I love simple hearty meals that have a lot of flavour and goodness included. Satisfying meals that give you peace of mind that they’re mostly full of all the things that our bodies need, especially growing ones.

I’m a cook from scratch kind of woman and the only things that I really buy premade to add to meals is passata or tinned tomatoes.

Here is the delivery that arrived and as you can see, we were given lots of choice to as to what we could make. I was tempted the making chilli but in the end, I opted for good old classic bolognese and this time I put together a ‘hidden’ veggies sauce. Something which I have never done before, which is pretty bad really.

Hidden veggies bolognese

Half a red pepper

Half a yellow pepper

1 courgette

Half an onion

3 large mushrooms

1 large carrot

First of all I chopped up all of the vegetables and steamed them until soft. Then I blitzed them up in a blender and put it to one side.

Then I fried the beef mince in a pan until browned, then I added a stock cube (and garlic if you wish) and then added the dolmio jar followed by the vegetable mixture. I mixed it all together and then left it to simmer. Meanwhile I cooked the wholemeal spaghetti according to the packet and grated some cheese ready for serving.

Once cooked I served the pasta topped with the bolognese and sprinkled cheese and parsley on top to finish the dish.

Now I must admit that I haven’t ever tried Dolmio jars before, although I have tried similar makes. I do generally find that it’s just as easy to make your own sauces as you know what has gone into them and you can add things as you please to taste. However, I was really surprised by how tasty this jar (and the veggies) made the meal. My boys absolutely loved this meal and it’s rare to get a meal that they both love (unless it’s hotdogs!). I was also honest and told them what had gone into making it once they had eaten it and they weren’t bothered in the slightest! So if you’re after a quick and easy meal, that packs some real flavour, then you can’t go far wrong with a jar of Dolmio on standby.

Here’s some blurb about what’s in a jar…

Dolmio Bolognese Original 500g sauce is 100% natural. In each jar, you’ll find at least 10 juicy diced tomatoes, a dollop of tomato puree, half an onion, a tablespoon of sunflower oil, a couple of cloves of garlic, a handful of herbs including basil, a teaspoon of cornflour, a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper, two teaspoons of added beet sugar for taste, a squeeze of lemon juice, a splash of water and nothing more. In fact, a jar provides a family of four with one of their 5-a-day each and that’s before you add any further veg to the meal! For more information visit www.dolmio.co.uk/thankgoodness or if you’re looking for mid-week meal inspiration check out the label on Dolmio jars.