Joanne's Meatballs

Dave's mom gave me this recipe. Joanne makes her own meatballs but I just buy a large bag of italian style meatballs at the market. If you want a meatball recipe, look elsewhere... mine never turn out good if I try by scratch but I get raves for this at parties and just usually don't mention the meatballs were from the market freezer.

We sometimes have this for dinner with other finger foods, but I usually make it for parties.

Ingredients:

• About 2 pounds of meatballs
• 4 jars chili sauce
• 2 large jars grape jelly (yes, grape jelly. I'm not kidding.)

Preparation:

1. In a large stock pot, combine grape jelly and chili sauce.
2. Optional: add a few teaspoons powdered garlic.
3. Heat sauce on medium, stirring occasionally, until thouroughly blended.
4. Increase heat to medium high and add meatballs

• If using frozen meatballs, bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for at least an hour or as long as you can until serving, stirring occasionally.
• If using homemade meatballs, maintain the boil for at least a half hour to cook meatballs, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally.

Hint: If serving at a party, don't tell anyone what's in the sauce until after they try a meatball.

Especially with frozen meatballs, this recipe is ideal for crockpot cooking. Heat the sauce on High until blended, then switch to Low and simmer for 6+ hours. Sorry, don't have any hints about using homemade meatballs in the crockpot. My best guess would be to cook on high for 1 to 2 hours before switching to Low heat.