More meatballs

Seriously, by the end of this week you are going to be sick sick sick of meatballs. But as I said, I made a ton. Mostly because, well, ground beef came in a LARGE package at Costco, I never know what to do with ground beef. So my freezer is just chock full of meatballs. Normally I wouldn't be in such a hurry to get rid of them, but I need the freezer space for 8lbs of baby back ribs I'm making this weekend. Ribs take up a lot of freezer space.

I have been reading time and time again, for years, about adding grape jelly to meatball recipes, so this is the first of two experiments. The grape jelly is supposed to add some sweetness, without tasting like .... grape jelly. I was a little skeptical, so I paired it with two things equally as sweet. That way if I wasn't pleased with the jelly I had the strong flavor of marinara to cover it up. And for those of you not won over by pineapple and tomato sauce - I send my sincere condolences. I discovered the flavor on Hawaiian pizza and am over the moon over the flavor pairing. And since we're doing sweet anyway.....

Hawaiian Meatballs

cooked meatballs
1 can pineapple chunks
olive oil
1 jar grape jelly
1 jar marinara sauce
1 red pepper
1/2 red onion

1) Chop up the red pepper and the red onion. Don't worry about a fine dice or a not so fine dice, bite size pieces are perfect!

2) Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet.

3) Cook pepper and onion until tender. Now quickstyle, take them out of the pan and put them on a plate somewhere.

4) Dump in ALLLL that marinara.

5) Add a tablespoon of the pineapple juice from the can. This will make your sauce very blurry as you can see. That means you're doing it right. If your sauce is not sufficiently blurry, add 1-2 cups of wine to yourself.

6) Now dump in that grape jelly. It's kinda gross and globby, so keep cooking it until it melts into the marinara. Stir every now and again.

7) Add in all your meatballs and lower the heat. Cook until the meatballs are warm all the way through.

8) Remember that plate of peppers and onions? Toss them right back in and cook till they're warmed.

9) Stir in your pineapple chunks.

10) Serve over rice for the true Hawaiian feel. If you're not digging Hawaii at the moment, you could serve this over pasta. I mean it does have marinara in it. Of course, it also has grape jelly....speaking of which...the rumor is true. There isn't the slightest hint of grape in this at all. Which makes sense since grape jelly doesn't really taste like grapes either. Stay tuned for the classic meatballs and grape jelly recipe!!!!