Darlene - I need recipe help!

Hi Darlene, I'm having people over for dinner tonight and decided that I want to make meatballs in the crockpot for an appetizer. I have the meatballs (gotta love Trader Joe's) but all the sauces I am finding on the internet are full of sugar. Brown sugar, cranberrry sauce, grape jelly, etc. I have sugar free BBQ sauce and I know I can manage to do doctor something up if I start with that, but thought I would ask the expert first! Thanks! Elizabeth

Elizabeth, I'm not Darlene but I thought I'd throw my idea out there. What about just plain tomato sauce and herb and garlic it up from there. I'm able to find no sugar added sauce at my local stores (and I live in hickville). Good luck. Tina http://www.wls.tinakulesa.com 315/263/140

I agree that a nice marinarer sauce would be good-- that way you don't have to worry about sugars. At the supermarket, over where they have the fresh pasta, ricotta cheese, cream cheese etc I often find a brand of fresh marinarer that is delicious! Or make your own: -2 cans Hunts tomato sauce - 2 T. minced garlic - 1 chopped onion - Optional = any chopped veggies you like, such as mushrooms, zucchini - 1 T. oregano, or to taste - 1.5 teas crushed basil, or to taste - salt and pepper to taste - 1 packet splenda - a pinch of cinammon -1 teas olive oil Saute garlic and onion and veggies on high in nonstick pan w/ spray, then add sauce & oil. Reduce heat to medium, add spices & splenda, let simmer on Med-Low for 10 minutes Ummm let me think... I have made sweet and sour sauce, using the packets, that you normally add water & sugar too, but have used splenda instead. I don't know if sweet n sour sauce on meatballs is more of a NZ thing though lol Manwich sauce always made me think of these tangy meatballs my grandma used to make, but I haven't looked at what the sugars and such are like in that--- haven't had it for years. I had meatballs once cooked in this asian soy based sauce from Costco, OMG they were amazing... but I don't know what its called, and I haven't seen the ingrediants in it. I personally love BBQ sauce on them. Here is a sauce recipe I found: A Little Bit Of Everything 1/2 cup SF barbecue sauce 1/2 cup steak sauce 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon garlic powder 4 tablespoons hot sauce 1 1/4 cups beer 3 cloves garlic, minced In a tall glass combine barbeque sauce, steak sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, hot sauce and beer. Mix well. Place the meat of choice in a container and rub the diced garlic firmly into it. Pour the marinade over the meat until fully covered, and marinate for about 5 hours; cover and refrigerate while marinating. Cook as desired ----------------------------------------

Hi there... just for your info, Splenda puts out a brown sugar substitute. I have some here for baking! Patti