Monday, April 27, 2009

Mix-It-Up Monday Recipe Review

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First off can I have three cheers for the first edition of Mix-It-Up Mondays! Hip-hip-hurray! Okay, calm yourselves...back to our scheduled programming.

I have to give the credit to my sister-in-law and my sister for finally convincing me grape jelly belongs with beef. I know! When I heard the words grape jelly I automatically thought, peanut butter sandwhich or toast or sticky kid faces at lunchtime recess, but not meatballs. Oh how glad I am to be wrong. So without further ado here it is, under 5 ingredients and faster than a rolling meatball:

Secret Sauce Sweet 'n Sour Meatballs.

4 heaping tablespoons of grape jelly, (please fight the urge to be stingy!)

1 8oz bottle of cocktail sauce (hang in there...this is as weird as it gets)

1 24oz can of crushed pineapple, juice in all...go ahead toss in...

54 meatballs (half of a large bag of frozen meatballs)

Pick your most non-staining pot, and have a cooking party. All the above ingredients are invited. Crockpot would be a killer time saver! Stew for 25 minutes for the pot, 2-3 hours in a high cooking crockpot, 4-5 on the low setting. Laddle over some lovely fluffy rice some freshly steamed greenbeans and ta-da, dinner is served.

All my kids loved it and asked for seconds. In fact it was gone before I could even think about taking a picture.

I loved how fast and easy it was to make, with the added bonus of getting some counting practice in with my 4 year old. She wanted to know why her older brother and sister got 5 meatballs and she only had 3. Her counting and comparison seems to work just fine.

So what did you venture to make this week? Share your recipe and review with all of us!

Please remember to link directly to your post and not just to the home page of your site. So let's see 'em, people!

**P.S. My cutest ever thumbs up model decided today was not a good day. We were just doing our best to turn her frowny face upside down and didn't want to push our luck. Toddlers can be spunky! Instead I featured another great Etsy Artisan's craft and love of cooking, nelladesigns' Print Your Own Retro Recipe Cards-Perfect for Mother's Day.


3 comments:

Garden Gate Designs said...

Great receipe Audrey. My own sister-in-law makes something similar for holidays. She is known in our family as the "appetizer queen". The ingredients in yours are similar and I can attest that they are probably pretty "yum".

Rosemary, Garden Gate Designs
www.gardengatedesigns.blogspot.com
www.gardengatedesigns.etsy.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Melissa, bella site, btw! So I made an asparagus soup with chicken this week, and the kiddos all enjoyed it (each in their own way I guess) :)

ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs chicken
4 c chicken stock
1 can coconut milk
1 bunch fresh asparagus (cut in 2″ long pieces)
1 tbs parsley
1 tsp thyme
1 1/2 - 2 tbs garam masala (a blend of coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, black pepper, bay leaf and clove)
Swiss or Parmesean cheese if you like, for garnish

Simple directions:

1. In a large pot, boil chicken in 4 cups water for 15 minutes to make your chicken stock.
2. Add asparagus, cover, and simmer for 5-7 minutes (till fork comes out clean, but veggies are still bright green).
3. In bender, puree asparagus, chicken and 1-2 cups chicken stock.
4. Return puree to the pot. Add spices and coconut milk. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, covered.

Serves 6-8. Enjoy!

I've got a photo on the daily delights if you're interested. Funny, I post a recipe each monday as well. :) ttys on mmb! katrina

momstheword said...

I need to try this. I have a recipe for grape jelly and beef but have never tried it. Thanks for the recommendation!