Review: Heinz and Ocean Spray Ultimate Party Meatballs

Over the years I’ve been to my share of potlucks – whether for work functions or family get-togethers. And one thing has always been the same – I’ve never had a good recipe to make. I’m always the person who brings dessert. Or 2-liters of pop. Or plates and napkins. Anything that doesn’t require having to really actually – cook. The holiday season is one time of year that’s filled with gatherings of all kinds, whether a dinner with close friends, a Sunday afternoon football game or hosting all of the relatives for your family celebration. And sometimes you just don’t have a lot of time to prepare, so any kind of easy dish that can be whipped up at a moment’s notice is always a good thing. Thankfully Heinz and Ocean Spray have teamed up to create a great, easy holiday appetizer recipe and I recently had the chance to try it out for our Thanksgiving get-together with my husband’s family.

What it is:

The Ultimate Party Meatballs recipe from Heinz and Ocean Spray takes only two steps and three ingredients to create a dish that’s perfect to serve either before a holiday meal or at your neighborhood party. Using Heinz Chili Sauce and Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, it’s easy to prepare this delicious recipe. Heinz and Ocean Spray have also created a fun Ultimate Party Meatballs website that’s filled with additional recipes and tips for entertaining.

Courtesy of Heinz, Ocean Spray and Mom Central we received each of these sauces to use in preparing the Ultimate Party Meatballs recipe for a Thanksgiving gathering in order to try out and review the dish.

Here’s my our take on it:

There are really two parts to this review – first, the preparation of the dish and then what I (and everyone else) thought of it. The recipe is extremely easy to prepare, even for someone as non-culinary as myself. You basically combine the sauces, pour them over pre-cooked, frozen meatballs, heat and serve. There are two ways to do this – either over the stove or in a slow cooker. I originally was going to use the slow cooker method, but decided at the last minute that I didn’t want to haul my giant slow cooker up to my inlaws’ house, especially when this recipe uses a relatively small amount of meatballs (2 pounds). So what I did was to cook them over the stove right before we left and brought the covered saucepan with us.

I was very curious as to how this recipe would taste because neither of the sauces are ones that I’m terribly fond of on their own. I do like chili, but can’t stand cranberry sauce by itself, so I was hoping that together the flavors would create something delicious.

Thanksgiving with my husband’s family is always a very low-key, casual occasion, so there aren’t really ‘appetizers’ per se. And we were a bit thrown when my mother-in-law ended up at the hospital right about the time that the meal was ready to be served – her blood sugar had risen to a dangerous level (she’s diabetic) so my sister-in-law and her fiancée drove her and all three of them missed Thanksgiving dinner. Those of us who were left made do and still had a nice dinner together –the men in front of the football game and me with all of the kids (teens down to my 3-year-old) at the table.

I actually ended up eating more meatballs than turkey that day (we were left without gravy since nobody had made any and neither my husband or I know how – he tried unsuccessfully), but I didn’t really mind because I absolutely love how they taste. They were juicy and filled with flavor – somehow those two sauces mix together to create something completely delicious. My girls refused to try them (as did my picky eater husband), but everyone else liked the meatballs a lot. My husband’s uncle raved about them quite a bit during dinner and a lot of the older kids thought they were really good too.

I love the meatballs – but I also love that I now have a dish that I can take to any potluck occasion that comes up in the future. I bought a smaller slow cooker on Black Friday, so next time I can just throw everything in there and let them cook away on their own – it’s hard to imagine the recipe being even easier to prepare than it is over the stove, but it looks that way with the slow cooker. That’s definitely my kind of recipe – easy and delicious!

The bottom line:

The Ultimate Party Meatballs recipe from Heinz and Ocean Spray is one of those that takes little preparation but looks and tastes as if you slaved over a hot stove for hours. With only three ingredients, it’s not just a time-saver but keeps your entertaining budget down as well. And your guests, co-workers or family members should love them.

Where can you find it?:

You can purchase the ingredients for the Ultimate Party Meatballs recipe at most retailers where groceries are sold. For more information and other great party recipes (as well as fun tips for all kinds of entertaining), check out http://www.ultimatepartymeatballs.com.

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.

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