Last night I made a quick and easy hors d’oeuvre for our New Year’s Eve party. Since the last guests didn’t leave until after 2am, I am living a very lazy day on the couch. This recipe is perfect for the lazy cook, complete with the frozen meatballs from Costco.
The original recipe I had for this came from a friend of mine and it called for cooking the raw meatballs in the sauce. Since I have apparently lost that recipe, I went searching on the net for something similar. What I found were countless varieties of Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I chose one of the easiest recipes I found from cooks.com and it was really good. I ended up doubling the recipe below and used approximately a half bag of the frozen meatballs. I put everything in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. 
If you decide to make this in the oven, follow the heating instructions on the bag or if you’re making your meatballs follow the cooking instructions below.
1 bottle of water (use chili sauce bottle)
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar (used 1/2 c. and it was plenty)
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 c. red wine (optional) I did not opt
Mix together ingredients for sweet & sour sauce in a sauce pan and simmer until well blended.
Pour sweet and sour sauce over meatballs. Bake 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees turning meatballs every half hour.
Meatballs can be kept warm in a slow cooker or a crock pot.
This recipe also freezes well.
I couldn’t resist showing you this picture of my little helper in the kitchen over the past few days. He’s really showing an interest in cooking, which thrills his Mama. I just wish he would eat half the food we cook. The whole “they’ll eat what they help prepare” theory is a bunch of hooey.
Well, back to the couch and eating leftovers until I explode. Happy New Year Everyone.
