Meatballs are an acceptable food in our house. I have one very picky child who deals with texture issues and one child who will eat anything that holds still long enough to put it in his mouth. Meatballs are acceptable by both. I consider that a food win. We’ve been hosting parties for various reasons over the past month and have a few more coming up. Mom Central clued me in to a fabulous recipe that makes either a great appetizer or, as we found out, a great, quick meal: Ultimate Party Meatballs.

Here’s the recipe.

• 1 14-ounce can Ocean Spray® Jellied Cranberry Sauce
• 1 12-ounce bottle Heinz® Chili Sauce
• 1 2-pound bag frozen, pre-cooked, cocktail-size meatballs

I know. It sounds weird, right? I mean, when I put the two together, it just doesn’t look right.

That said, I’ve been finding that jellied cranberry sauce shows up in really random recipes to give it a little extra flavor. I recently made one and so I trusted the recipe and continued to make these meatballs. Even though it looked… weird.

Directions for making the meatballs:

Combine sauces in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth. Add meatballs. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until meatballs are heated through, stirring occasionally.

Makes 30 appetizer servings.

Slow cooker Preparation: Place meatballs in a slow cooker. Combine sauces and pour over meatballs. Cover and cook 4 hours on HIGH.

Once the cranberry sauce is heated and melts into the sauce, it doesn’t look weird anymore. Trust me.

And trust me on this: they’re delicious. The sauce is sweet and tangy, closer to a sweet and sour sauce than a tomato sauce meatball kind of thing. That’s why they’re perfect for hor dourves. Throw a couple on a plate along with some crackers and cheese and you’ve got yourself an easy bunch of appetizers for your next get together. (Ahem. Christmas much?) I don’t have pictures of our last small party in which we served the meatball appetizers (in a fancy schmancy bowl!) because I was a little bit stressed with that party. Apologies.

We also found that they make great meatball sandwiches. While meatball sandwiches typically have a red, tomato sauce, we are in love with this recipe on a nice, soft hoagie roll. LittleBrother inhaled his sandwich. He didn’t set it down the whole time he was eating it. BigBrother ate most of it which is saying something! I wanted two but I kept it to one.

Any way you work it, appetizer or sammich (which is how you’d say it if you were originally from Pittsburgh), this recipe is a hit with adults and kids. I’ve already bought more stuff to make another batch for yet another get together next week. Yummy, yummy. There are some other great recipes over on the Ultimate Party Meatballs website. Go check it out.

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[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Heinz and Ocean Spray and received the ingredients necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.]