IT’S MARCH MADNESS BABY!!!!

I’ve gone completely off the deep end. Mike doesn’t even know how to handle my new-found love of all things basketball. But tell me there’s $100 at stake, and I take shit seriously.

I joined the NCAA pool at work, and in my determined fervor to not lose, I spent (no joke) 3 hours cramming college basketball knowledge into my previously sports-neutral brain. I studied stats. I read player analysis and game predictions from various sports writers. I compared different brackets online and looked into why a team was chosen over another and whether it was the best choice.

What this experience teaches us is that I am highly motivated by prize money. I won’t say how my bracket is doing, because I’ve also developed a bit of a serious superstition problem, but I will say I’m going through withdrawals at the moment since the games don’t continue until Thursday. Like I said, Mike is wondering who I am and what I’ve done with the real Jen.

But really – she cooks AND she likes basketball? He’s not complaining.

What You Need:

•  1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
• 15 plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 medium eggplant cut into cubes (about 2 cups)
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• 1/2 tsp ground thyme
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp cornmeal
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400F

Combine the tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic in a large dutch oven or baking dish and bake, covered, for about 45-60 minutes. It’s done when the veggies are soft and cooked through with their juices at the bottom of the dish.

In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, egg, all the spices and the cornmealand blend until well-combined. This is your “meat”ball dough.

Scoop the dough out of the food processor and form into small round balls. Set aside.

Once the tomato and eggplant mixture is done baking, scoop out the veggies using a slotted spoon to separate them from the juices.

In the food processor, blend the tomato and eggplant mixture until it becomes a chunky sauce.

Pour the sauce into a slow cooker and add the chickpea balls.

Cook on low for 1-2 hours (I cooked for 2 hours and kept on warm for another hour while I was at work).

Serve over baked spaghetti squash and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

And I will say that some of the “meat”balls did break apart in the crock pot (just a bit) but all that happens is the tomato sauce turns into a delicious “meat”sauce. YUM.