Number 2 on our list of 28 Ways to Eat Pepper Jelly is as a glaze on meat.  We found this recipe for Moink Balls - Bacon Wrapped Meatballs with Pepper Jelly over at HotSauceDaily.com.

There are claims on their blog about this dish being an "awesome appetizer".  As a result, we gave it a try for #2 on our list.

This is another really simple and quick recipe for the grill.  You can put the prepared meatballs on skewers to ease the handling during cooking and while you are at it, "skewer-up" some of your favorite vegetables.  Your veggies can be just about whatever you have available.  We used tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, zucchini and yellow squash.

In this post, we will explain how to prepare this dish on the grill.  We have also prepared this bacon wrapped meatballs with pepper jelly using our Smoker.  This takes a little longer (about 2 hours.)

For this recipe we used 1/2 bag of Celentano frozen meatballs.  This makes a little less than 1 pound of meatballs (about 14 ounces).  Simply, double the ingredients if you are preparing a full bag.

Additionally, this dish makes a great appetizer or you can add some pasta or rice and have an entree.  Preparation time is 10 minutes and cooking time for this complete dish is 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 14 ounces (1/2 bag) of Celentano Meatballs
• 1/2 pound of bacon
• Sweet Habanero and Orange Dry Rub
• Heidi's Pineapple-Cherry Habanero Pepper Jelly
• Available Vegetables (Optional)
• Pasta Roni Butter and Garlic Angel Hair Pasta (Optional)

Instructions

1. Partially thaw the meatballs.  They do not need to be totally thawed, but enough to easily place on the skewers (be careful not to skewer your hand).
2. Take the 1/2 pound of bacon and slice it in half.
3. Wrap a half piece of bacon around each meatball, then place on a skewer.  NOTE: If using wood skewers and you want to avoid the risk of burning through the skewers while on the grill, pre-soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes.  If grilling on low indirect heat, this is really not an issue.  Repeat this process until you have all bacon wrapped meatballs on the skewers.
4. Slice some of your favorite vegetables and place on the skewers.  As mentioned above, we selected some tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and squash
5. Sprinkle some Habanero and Orange Dry Rub over the bacon wrapped meatballs.  We also sprinkle this Dry Rub on the skewered vegetables.
6. Heat the grill to about 300 degrees and then place the meatballs on the grill, but not directly over the fire.  These must be cooked over indirect heat. The bacon drippings will cause the grill to flare up very quickly if you place over direct heat.  There are 3 fire sources on my grill, so I turn off the middle fire source and leave the end sources lit.  This provides for a large indirect heat area and works well.
7. Optional - if you are preparing the pasta then start it after the meatballs have been cooking 15 minutes.  The pasta only takes 5 minutes once it starts to boil.
8. After 20 minutes brush the Pineapple-Cherry Habanero Pepper Jelly on each meatball.  Cook another 5 to 7 minutes.  Your total time will vary depend on your specific grilling temperature.

Is this an awesome appetizer?  All that I can tell you is that these pepper jelly meatballs have been the very first item to disappear each time we have prepared them for our guests.  Thanks to the folks over at HotSauceDaily.com for this recipe.