This was one of those recipes that I came up with on the fly. I opened my fridge and pantry, took a quick inventory and decided I had a lot of produce to use up. The eggplant bake is a little like ratatouille. It pairs well with pretty much any protein (fish, chicken, beef, etc.) and take very little prep.
You could also make the chicken meatballs into larger patties and puree the eggplant bake (to form a sauce). Think of it as an open faced burger with a nice veggie sauce. Add a little feta cheese (if you'd like) and you've got another great meal! Throwing veggies in the blender to make a puree is a great way to sneak extra veggies into a picky eaters' diet!
For the Meatballs…
Chicken Meatballs:
-1 lb ground chicken breast
-1/8 c. egg whites
-1/4 c. coconut flour
-3/4 tsp minced garlic (or more if you like it garlicky)
-1 tsp. dried parsley
-1 tsp dried thyme
-1/2 tsp pepper flakes
 |
| Step 1 |
Mix until well combined. This will be kind of sticky but you can slightly dampen your hands with water to prevent them from sticking when you roll.
 |
| Step 2 |
I rolled them into golfball sized balls and put them into a lightly oiled non sticky skillet on medium high. Let brown on each side (5-8 minutes).
 |
| Step 3 |
Eggplant Bake:
-1 whole eggplant (small-medium) diced
 |
| before baking |
-1 yellow pepper diced
-1/2 large yellow onion diced
-5 strips turkey bacon diced
-1 carton crushed tomato sauce
-1 T. minced garlic
-1 T dried thyme
-1 T dried parsley
-Salt/pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 Degree.
Throw all ingredients into a ceramic baking dish. Add meatballs from above (or not if you are making this solo). Mix together and bake for 30-45 minutes (until eggplant fork tender and meatballs fully cooked). You can enjoy this plain or on top of spaghetti squash.
