Spicy Tomato & Red Wine Meatballs with Spaghetti

spaghetti and meatballs easy meal

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It’s a sad truth that I find preparing meals a chore, I’m never organised enough to plan ahead and then find it really frustrating to scrape something appetizing together that I actually want to eat. The Mr is rarely home for dinner as he usually works late most nights, so it’s just Emma and I every night for dinner – Just the Two of Us!

When Maggi asked me if I wanted to try out their new Just for 2 range I jumped at the chance. Finally a product designed for just two, not huge family sized portions where I have to throw most of it away.

We chose to make Spicy Tomato & Red Wine Meatballs with Spaghetti

Meatball ingredients

And talk about easy…
just a few extra ingredients required,
250g beef mince
1 onion, sliced thinly
400g tinned crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup (60ml) red wine

all ingredients I had on hand already
+ JUST FOR 2 Spicy Tomato & Red Wine Meatballs sachet.

spaghetti and wine

Extra glass of red wine for drinking (optional) *wink*

making meatballs recipe

Preparation and cooking was super simple.
Emma made the meatballs and I chopped the onion. We make quite a team.

cooking meatball sauce

1. Roll beef mince into 12 meatballs. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add meatballs, cook for 5 minutes or until browned, add onion, cook for a further 2 minutes or until softened.
2. Next I added the wine and let it simmer to cook off the alcohol.
3. Add MAGGI Spicy Red Wine Tomato Meatballs Recipe Mix and tomatoes, cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve with spaghetti.

spaghetti and meatballs

It’s always fun to break the routine and have a special dinner for two, even if it’s just Emma and I, who says ‘Date Nights’ have to be just for couples. So the table was set for a ‘romantic’ meal, with an Italian twist.
A candle lit dinner for two, My Poppet style.

italian romantic dinner with candle

And when I think romance + spaghetti, the most romantic spaghetti and meatball eating movie scene immediately came to mind 🙂

lady and the tramp spaghetti scene remake

But you probably want to know how it tastes. I was really pleasantly surprised by the depth of flavour, with a little spicy kick that is far from bland. Aimed at adult palates, which is a refreshing alternative to the usual boring fare I tend to serve up, I really enjoyed it. Emma eats whatever we do, I like to offer her a range of food flavours, so a little bit of spice was ok for her too.

kid eating spaghetti

It didn’t taste salty at all, which is my main concern with recipe bases, and contains no artificial colours, flavours or added MSG so it’s a healthy and quick alternative to other convenience meal options. (I am guilty of ordering too much take away!)

And the best thing? It’ only $1.99 which means that it’s a great pantry staple to have on hand. Find Maggi’s just for 2 products amongst the Recipe Base packets in the your local supermarket.

empty plate

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