This slow cooker sweet and sour meatball recipe got a big thumbs up from hubby when I made it.  I subbed frozen vegan meatballs for “real” meatballs and it came out great!

Hubby really loved this recipe and took some of the leftovers to work for lunch.  He said his coworkers envied him (though he didn’t reveal they were veggie meatballs).

If you’re in a hurry or don’t have a slow cooker, you can still make this dish.  Just cook the meatballs in a conventional oven per package instructions while heating up the sauce and then stir everything together!

I will caution you to read carefully the ingredients of any sweet and sour sauce you might buy.  I’m normally diligent about this since some ethnic sauces contain fish sauce.  But I must have hastily purchased the-brand-that-shall-not-be-named because I was mortified when I took a closer look at home and realized the sauce contained carmine… or crushed bugs.  Yep, if you didn’t know, carmine is red pigment from crushed female cochineal insects.  Appetizing, eh?  If you don’t already own the book Animal Ingredients A to Z: Third Edition, it’s a wise education in identifying animal ingredients and all the different ways animal substances are used in things we use and consume everyday.

Animal Ingredients reports that 70,000 beetles are killed to produce one pound of this red dye, which is used in cosmetics, shampoos, red applesauce and other foods (including some of those supposedly healthy bottled nutrient waters).  The dye has been known to cause allergic reactions, too.

Knowledge is power: Beware the bugs!