Easy Hidden Veg Tomato Sauce

Who doesn't love a recipe that is full of hidden goodness?

I know that one of my favourite things is seeing my children tucking into a meal and not realising that they are eating vegetables that they, ordinarily, may not have wanted. This incredibly versatile sauce is my favourite go to pasta sauce. It is quick to make, easy to prepare, full of flavour and full of goodness!

There are so many ways that this basic sauce recipe can be used. The possibilities are endless. It can be used with meatballs, with mince beef for a bolognese style sauce for spaghetti or even lasagne, you could add some tuna and have it as a tuna pasta bake, you could even add some water and have it as a soup!

By combining seven vegetables with some herbs you have a great base for so many different meals.

This is what I did...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 13

Hello and welcome to week 13 of #MealPlanningMonday.

You may have noticed that over the last week things have been very quiet on Hijacked By Twins. I have to admit that working full time, being mum/wife and blogger is a lot harder than I expected. I have struggled to find the time to sit down and write. Luckily the Easter holidays are on their way and we have got a family holiday planned where I am planning to have a complete break from blogging and social media. I am looking forward to cutting myself off from everything to concentrate on my family and myself. I think we all need to do this every now and then for our own sanity.

My posts may have been quiet but in the background I do have some exciting review posts coming up as well as a charity post in the pipeline. Over the Easter weekend Little I will be helping me to review a tandem cookbook and I will admit to being just as excited as she is. That post will be live on 4th April so keep an eye out for that!

Now on to this weeks meal plan. The children finish school on Wednesday but I have got an extra day to work so I have a feeling that by Thursday evening I will be ready for a delicious, easy meal and a lovely glass of wine. But before then I have got some quick and easy meals that we all love!

This is what we will be enjoying this week...

#BigMac50 - Celebrating 50 Years of the Big Mac!

McDonald's has been a family favourite for years. I remember going for a McDonald's as a child and have fond memories of us taking my late grandmother who asked where the cutlery was. I am sure that there are families all over the world that have McDonald's memories too. They are a worldwide brand who everyone knows and loves. You can guarantee that where ever you are in the world, if you order a Big Mac it is going to taste exactly the same as it does at home.

Back in 2016 I wrote a post about the evolution of McDonald's after visiting one the newly refurbished restaurants in Leeds. While I was there I even made my very own Big Mac using two all beef burgers, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions all in a sesame seed bun.

#CookBlogShare 2018 Week 11 - Plus Super Soups and Bread

Hello and welcome to week 11 of the Cook Blog Share linky.

The week when it is my turn to host, is always a week I look forward to. Hosting gives me the perfect excuse to sit back and read your posts. Since I started working full time I have found that I never stop and really do miss having the time to dedicate to reading blogs like I did before. During term time I tend to be more quiet but working in a school means that I have lots of holidays which gives me the ideal time to catch up. In two and a half weeks we all break up for the Easter holidays so we are all well and truly on the count down.

Usually at this time of year I am looking at making more spring time recipes but thanks to the great British weather that we have been having, snow, rain, wind, etc. I am still swaying towards warming, comforting meals. So it is not surprising that this week it was the warming soups that won me over and a necessary side dish to go with them!

Here are my four favourite recipes from week 10 of #CookBlogShare...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 11

Hello and welcome to week 11 of my weekly meal plan.

Last week, blog wise, things were quiet. It was a manic week, as always and I simply did not have the energy to post. But do not worry, I have plenty of recipes to share and tomorrow the fantastic #CookBlogShare linky is here on Hijacked By Twins.

This week's meal plan is a mixture of using what we have got in and meals that my mother in law can help to prepare. Fingers crossed she will be getting moved over soon, but for now she is staying with us. When we were looking in the freezer the other day we were amazed at the food that we found at the bottom. I cannot be the only person the puts foods in the freezer and forgets about them. I did start to write a list of what was in the freezer, but life took over and time became sparse. In the Easter holidays I am planning to invest in a white board that I can list everything that is in the freezer and as we use it I remove it from the list. I am sure that this will not only help to keep us on track of what we have got but should inevitably save us money on food shopping.

I have mentioned in previous blog posts about how the Hubby needs to reduce his cholesterol and blood pressure. If we are completely honest, not a lot has changed with our diets but after discussions over the weekend we are going to make a conscious effort to make small changes which will, hopefully, make a big difference. We are going to reduce the amount of red meat that we have to once a week and when we have meals that use minced beef I will substitute it with Quorn. I have discovered that nobody realises that it is Quorn if I add beef stock to the sauce. We are also going to have more chicken, turkey and oily fish.

This week's meal plan is not going to be structured to days as I think that we will need to be a little bit flexible but one day that will remain the same will be Thursday's freezer meal. After the twins swimming lesson all I want is to be able to cook a quick, easy meal.

This is what we will be enjoying this week...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 10

Hello and welcome to week 10 of #MealPlanningMonday 2018.

Last week was certainly an eventful week after the Beast from the East descended upon us. The temperatures dropped dramatically and the children had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at home thanks to the school closures. However I was still at work as the Hubby was not able to get to work, thankfully my work is a lot closer and in the opposite direction so I had no excuse!

The week may have been upside down but our meal plan still went well. The only day that was different was Wednesday's meal. The only reason that it changed was because I was not sure if our online shopping delivery would arrive so I picked something up on my way home from work. But I was worrying for nothing, I was astounded when our delivery arrived 15 minutes early by Paul in the Onion van from Ocado!

On Saturday we all tucked into what is becoming one of our most favoured meals as a family. We had a Mexican meal. I made some crispy chicken for fajitas, a Quorn chilli for tacos, salad, rice, nachos and dips. I always find that the children enjoy being able to dig in and pick their food. Meals like this make meal time a really enjoyable experience!

Do you have a family favourite meal? I'd love to know what it is. I am currently looking for ideas for Saturday!

Now onto this weeks meal plan. This is what we will be enjoying...