Easy Cocktail Meatballs

So many exciting things this weekend. It started with the Halloween party on Friday. Dan and I decided to be Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler from the Big Bang Theory. It was pretty fun! Yesterday, Dan and I spent the day cleaning around the house. I'm pretty sure I did 4 loads of laundry, washed, dried and folded. I also cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed the whole house, and watched the dogs, while Dan took the leaf blower to the lawn, mowed the lawn, and brought 2 weeks worth of trash and recycling to the dump. Productive day overall. At night, Dan went to work and I got the next exciting thing of the weekend - my new Chromebook! We were in need of a new laptop soon, and the Chromebooks were recommended because they are portable (2 lbs!), suits all basic needs, and easy on the wallet. We got the HP Chromebook 11. So far, so good. It takes a little while to get used to Chrome, since I've been a PC Windows user since my first computer as a kid, but it's somewhat similar to a mac or iPhone. It's all web-based and uses apps instead of programs. It did take me 5-10 minutes to learn how to save my photos on here so I could blog all my goodies for the weekend, but it's super simple.

All my goodies is the next exciting part of the weekend. Dan's hockey team has the night off this week, so he decided to invite the team here tonight to hang out. So, between the cleaning of the house, I had some serious cooking to do. This is the first real time we've entertained people here, other than having a bonfire once this summer. Dan told me to grab some burgers and hot dogs, and I reminded him that I write a cooking blog....burgers and dogs are not blog-worthy, so I would be making things that were. Obviously!

First up is a recipe that I'm pretty sure everyone knows and loves. Cocktail meatballs. You know, the sweet and sour kind, the kind that's at every potluck you go to. The kind that people say, "You know? The meatballs? The sweet ones, not the Italian ones?" I always forget about really really easy recipes this like when I go to make appetizers. I figured today was a good day for it, they take a total of 5 minutes to prepare, and a few hours in the crock pot. Three ingredients. Five minutes of actual work. Hours of your house smelling fabulous.

Easy Cocktail Meatballs
from my mom telling me how she makes them

2 (1.5 lb) bags plain frozen meatballs (I used Angus Beef, but you could use turkey or any kind)
1 (18 oz) jar grape jelly
1.5 jars chili sauce (you could use 2, but I like mine a little sweeter)

1. Heat the jelly in a microwave safe bowl for 2-3 minutes, until it thins out and is easy to stir. Add chili sauce and mix to combine
2. Place frozen meatballs in a crock pot. Top with sauce and cook on low for at least 2 hours or longer. Mine will be cooked for 6 hours once the gathering starts.

** By the way, I love crock pot liner bags. Though they aren't so pretty for pictures or presentation, they make clean up ridiculously easy, which is great when you're entertaining because you're going to have lots of dishes to do after the party.