Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Dear Husband and I first had these at a Jewish foods tasting at the library. The original recipe comes from the book "Jewish Cooking In America" by Joan Nathan. She uses 1/3 cup matzoh meal in hers. I've replaced it with 1/4 cup of oats in mine...since I never have matzoh meal in the house. See below for freezing, make ahead, and crock pot instructions.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup oats, ground in the blender
1/2 of an onion, grated
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste
1 (28 oz) can tomato puree
1 (10 oz) jar chili sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
Mix the ground beef, oats, onion, egg, and seasonings together. Roll into meatballs...about a tablespoon size. In a large saucepan, mix tomato puree, chili sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Turn it down to a simmer and add meatballs one at a time. Simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Serve alone, or over rice, pasta, or potatoes. Makes about 40 meatballs

FREEZE:
Make the meatballs ahead...frozen for 3 or so months. I make a ton of meatballs when the weather is still cool in the spring and use them in the crock pot all summer. Place raw meatballs on a baking sheet in the freezer until frozen solid. Move to a zip top freezer bag. Label and date. To thaw: Place in a covered container in the fridge overnight, or microwave. I don't normally place frozen meats in the crock pot, but these are small in size, so they could go directly to the crock pot in their frozen state too.

Make Ahead:
This dish can be made ahead and kept in the fridge until needed. Reheat on the stove or microwave. This is a good recipe to make while making something else for dinner tonight.

CROCK POT:
Place fresh cooked or frozen meatballs in the crock pot. Pour the sauce over the top. Mix well. Cook fresh cooked meatballs 2-3 hours on low or 1-1 1/2 hours on high. Add an hour to each cook time if the meatballs were put in frozen.