Buffet Meatballs

I served these at the my first dinner party, and they were pretty good.  They're really simple, and the flavor was very unique.  I also like that this recipe could be easily adapted to fit any tastes.

Buffet Meatballs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 4 hrs
Yield: about 11 dozen meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grape juice
• 1 cup apple jelly
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 4 lbs Italian style frozen meatballs

Kitchen Items Needed:

• small sauce pan
• 5-qt slow cooker

Instructions:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the juice, jelly, ketchup, and tomato sauce.
2. Cook and stir over medium heat until the jelly is melted; remove from heat.
3. Place meatballs in a 5-qt slow cooker, pour the sauce over the meatballs, and gently stir to coat.
4. Cook 4 hrs on low until heated through.

The Recipe Rundown

Difficulty:  What can be more simple than leaving things in a crock pot to absorb all the sweet flavor?  This, and almost every crock recipe I've tried, gets a 1/5 for difficulty, meaning a beginner chef would have to try to mess this up.

Taste:  These were pretty tasty in my opinion, and the apple jelly gave the meatballs a unique flavor you don't normally get with buffet style meatballs.  Coming out of the crock pot, these were of course very moist.  I'm going to give this recipe a 4/5 for taste, because I think you could play with this recipe a little to make it even better.

Overall:  When planning a dinner party, or even just a social gathering, a recipe like this is perfect because you can get it taken care of 4 hours before your guests arrive and just leave it in the crock pot while you handle everything else that needs to be done for the party.  Since the flavor of the recipe, as stated, was very good, but not overwhelmingly amazing, I'm giving these meatballs an overall 4/5.

Suited for:  Buffets, dinner parties, or any other time you would serve 11 dozen meatballs.

Serving Suggestions:  Since the meatballs are a bit sweet from the apple jelly in the "sauce," serving alongside a salty appetizer complements this well.  I served stuffed mushrooms and roasted eggplant with this for appetizers.