I’m just going to put this out there but sometimes blogging can be a pain in the arse! And yes in Australia we say arse and not ass 😉 Apologies if that came across too harsh but seriously some days I just can’t be arsed to sit down and post on here!

Take yesterday for example, I had planned on putting this recipe up yesterday but here’s what happened. First off it was a SUNNY day! Which as you may have realised from my weather rants on here this is rare for England. So of course I had to take advantage of this beautiful day, plus Joe had taken the day off work (well he took Monday off too to take me to the teaching agency… more on the below). So instead of sitting at home with me typing away on the computer we decided to head out for a day time walk and ended up running around like kids on the grass in the middle of the park. And you know what it was fun! And I didn’t feel bad about not having put up my blog post, even though on my FB page I said I would.

Yes I love writing here and posting recipes but it’s not my life. If I get the chance to be outside, enjoy the sun and enjoy the company of my husband well then that trumps everything else! I’m pretty sure… or at least I hope that other bloggers feel the same way! 

Anyway as for my meeting with the teaching agency, it was in Birmingham which is about a 40 mins car trip from where we are. It’s a HUGE city, as in the 2nd biggest outside of London in terms of British cities and where we live is like a small country town compared to it! Anyway Joe took the day off work so he could take me to the agency, we got there around 11.30am on Monday and my interview went for about an hour. It wasn’t really a formal interview, most of it was just me filling out paper work and them scanning in my documents. At one stage I had to go into another room with the man that was helping me out and we ran through some questions, things like my work history, what I thought my strengths and weaknesses were, my goals for what I wanted to do as teacher and some other non-teacher related questions. He also asked me about life in America and nearly had a heart attack when I told him about the story of Joe getting appendicitis the first week we got to America and the bill that came to us after his surgery which was $20,000 (we had to pay $5000 out of that!)…. here in England they have the National Health System (NHS) which means you basically get free health cover. So you can go into any health clinic/doctor’s office and register for free. I’m not sure what the cost is for surgery here but safe to say it wouldn’t be like it is in America!

Overall it went well, now I just have to send them a copy of my police report from the FBI which I had to get in America. The only issue is that the original is in Australia so I have to get a copy scanned in from there and then email that to them! Plus I have to pay to get a police check done here! This getting registered as a teacher here has been a long process and a costly one so I’m hoping in the end it’s all worth it! Once the police check is done then the agency will work on placing me in different schools. Since I don’t have a car right now the schools will have to be close by so I can walk or that I can get to with public transport!

After that we went to look around this shopping centre (mall) which was pretty HUGE! Back in Michigan we had the Somerset Mall (some of you may know it), which was pretty big and I actually worked there for a while but this one was even bigger! It was really busy too with lots of people and both Joe and I don’t really like that, so we had a quick look around and then found ourselves in a 4 storey book store! And then I was in heaven! I mean I seriously could have stayed there ALL DAY!

Now onto the today’s recipe. I made this some time last week (can’t remember when). As you know I’m staying away from the treats and trying my best to stick to the basics (meat, veggies, some fruit and occasionally some nuts). So this recipe is super simple like most that I post but more importantly it’s tasty! It uses a spiraliser. If you don’t know what that is it’s basically a gadget that lets you make noodles and other cuts out of vegetables like zucchini or sweet potato. In the past I used to use a julienne peeler to make my noodles but this makes it so much easier and uses pretty much the whole vegetable. I use this one which I bought in America before we moved here and I LOVE it! It’s so much fun creating different vegetable noodles with it!

Meatballs with Zucchini & Carrot ‘Pasta’

Ingredients:

• 500grams/1.1lbs grass-fed mince/ground beef.
• 2 medium carrots.
• 2 medium zucchini.
• 1 red onion diced in a food processor or finely using a knife.
• 2 Tbsp grass-fed ghee/butter (divided).
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
• Pinch of red chili flakes.
• Sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

Method:

Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Place the beef, red onion, ground cinnamon, garlic powder and red chili flakes into a mixing bowl. Add S&P to your taste and mix.

Form into small-medium meatballs and place on the lined tray. Pour 1 Tbsp melted ghee/butter over the meatballs and bake for 25-30 minutes.

While the meatballs are cooking, use your spiraliser to make your zucchini and carrot noodles. If you don’t have a spiraliser you can use a julienne peeler or even a regular vegetable peeler to make your noodles, but I HIGHLY recommend getting yourself one!

Heat 1 Tbsp of ghee/butter in a pan and then add in your noodles. Stir and season with some S&P. You don’t have to cook your noodles, you can leave them raw but I personally don’t tolerate raw vegetables too well. I almost always cook them before eating.

Once the meatballs are done remove from the oven and serve with the zoodles and coodles (get it zucchini and carrot noodles = zoodles and coodles hehehe).

You can also make a tomato sauce to go with this or have it as is!