Lazy Lady Bolognese

This is finally the first recipe post, though I'm setting the bar low. I made this on a Sunday afternoon when I realized the kids were overly hungry for dinner and I had thirty minutes to make something or order Chipotle. This is a great recipe to make while you're emptying the dishwasher, listening to a podcast etc.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

one shallot or 1/2 small white onion

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 lb ground beef

28 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes

1/4 cup red wine (optional)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1/2 cup frozen spinach (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Box of pasta of your choice

(Please make fun of my wine stopper.)

Heat the pasta water (salt generously). Heat the oil in the pan. Chop the shallot and garlic and add to oil. Let it simmer for about two minutes. Add the oregano and simmer for another minute. Add the ground beef and brown. I like to add about half a teaspoon of kosher salt when I add the beef to the pot.

Next add the tomato paste and cook for about one minute. Then add the wine, if using. Cook for another minute. Finally add the tomatoes. While you're making the sauce you should be cooking the pasta. For some reason my kids go crazy over the tiny pasta shapes and I'm happy to oblige.

I let the sauce simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. Then, if I'm not serving a vegetable I add about 1/2 cup frozen spinach and simmer for another 20 minutes. This is not exactly a perfectly well rounded meal but sometimes its all I have on a Sunday night.When the pasta and sauce are finished, serve it up however you like it. By the way, after all that work, four year old J insisted on plain pasta with cucumbers on the side. You can't win em all.