Whole wheat spaghettini alla bolognese with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

This is not traditional bolognese, which is made with a specific set of ingredients, including pancetta and milk or cream, and is not served with spaghetti pasta. But, nothing beats a meal that brings back childhood memories of sitting at the dinner table happily sucking up noodles while the sauce splatters all over your chin. Incidentally these memories never include the clean-up that undoubtedly ensued.

I usually make huge batches of sauce at a time and store dinner-sized portions in our deep freezer. (Yes, we have an apartment-sized deep freezer in our condo. It's the best $250 I ever spent. Even if we had to tuck it away in the coat closet.) Each batch is different but I usually include the some variation of: ground beef, onions, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce (or other commercial sauce), red wine, ketchup, Worchestire, HP sauce, balsamic - just a splash!, garlic, dried parsley, oregano, and thyme, bay leaves, ground pepper...basically whatever I have on hand. I saute the ground beef and vegetables ahead of time and then put everything in a slow cooker overnight. It smells heavenly come morning.