This dish is amazing. Not tooting my own horn, but it just is. I was in a complete state of starvation after a very stressful day of waiting at the hospital for Brad’s latest check-up when I started crafting this dish in my head.

Before leaving to go to the clinic for the check-up, I had set out ground chicken to thaw. I had all the intentions of making soup in the Instapot. But after two and half hours at the hospital and another hour out running errands, I was hungry and dreaming of bigger and better things than a measly ole soup.

Which is exactly how this gorgeousness was born. Straight out of my hungry mind palace. Even in the state of my hunger, I knew it would be totally worth it. I knew I had to have the comfort food of pasta and the savory meatballs and the veggie loaded ragu.

Now, bare with me. It kinda has a lot of steps. And I didn’t really write anything down measurement-wise. It was completely intuitive cooking at its finest. So take these directions and ingredient list with a grain of salt. Use what you have on hand, and I’m sure you will end up with something just as tasty.

For the chicken meatballs:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 2 Tablespoons almond flour, to help bind
• 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes, to taste

Combine all ingredients. Form into meatballs, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

For the Ragu:

• 1 small eggplant, diced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 bunch dinosaur kale, chopped
• 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I used a Roasted Garlic and Caramelized Onion Tomato Sauce)
• Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste

Heat a large pot with avocado oil. Add in the leek, eggplant and kale. Sauté until eggplant is soft and the kale and leek are wilted. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Add in the tomato sauce. Taste. Season again until you get it to your likely. Cover and simmer while the meatballs bake.

Once the meatballs are cooked, add them to the ragu. Simmer an additional 5-10 minutes so the flavors of the meatballs and sauce combine.

While your sauce simmers, heat a pot of water to cook the noodles. I used Cappello’s fettuccine noodles because they are the best pasta substitute I’ve ever found. Cook noodles according to the package directions. I actually undercooked mine so they could soak up some of the sauce.

The outcome was the gorgeous, delicious veggie-heavy sauce with the added bonus of savory, juicy chicken meatballs and perfectly cooked pasta.

You just can’t beat that.