Frank's Red Hot Party!

I recently had the opportunity through Collective Bias to review Frank's Red Hot Sauce and a Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker. I hosted a small get together with some friends and made two dishes using Frank's! It was all very delicious, if I do say so myself!

If you read this blog and also my personal blog, Carolyn in Carolina, you all know I love food. You all know that I participate in Sabroso Saturday, weekly cooking meme with several friends. And you all know I love to eat. So this review/party was right up my alley!

I love hot sauce of any kind. I always have since I was a little girl. I will be honest and tell you I never ever tried Frank's Red Hot Sauce. I was excited to find a new hot sauce that I might like. Besides the Original Hot Sauce, Frank's also has other flavors like Chile n' Lime, Sweet Chili, Sweet Heat BBQ and Xtra Hot. I live in a small town so our WalMart only had the Original Red Hot Sauce and the Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce.

I decided, for my recipes, I would need the Original Sauce. So I headed over to our local WalMart and gathered up all my ingredients. Got to love WalMart! They had everything I needed as usual!

We had some friends over to watch a game so I decided to create a new recipe called: Willy-Nilly Spicy Meatballs Two Ways. If you have ever read my recipes, you know I am all about being random and willy-nilly when I cook. I love just taking ingredients and seeing if I can make something delicious from them. Of course, that means there is no real recipe to follow but it is so easy, you can't mess it up.

I started out with ground beef. To the ground beef, I added some spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, bread crumbs, grill seasoning, paprika, and Franks' Red Hot sauce. You can add as little or as much as you want. It depends on how hot you want your meatballs. You can add any spices you like and even mince some onions and add them in for a little more flavor. I mixed it all up and made mini meatballs. You don't want giant meatballs in this recipe because you will be using them in two dishes.

Cooking Tip: I love entertaining and I learned a long time ago that the best way to cater a party is to keep it simple and delicious. Making a dish and using it in various ways will save you time and money! Plus, most people will not even notice you are using the same item to make 2 dishes.
Anyway, make the meatballs. In the slow cooker add a can of diced tomatoes, a little tomato paste (to thicken), salt, pepper, peppers, onions and more Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Again, the best part of a recipe like this is that you can add various veggies or spices. There are no rules here, folks. Add meatballs and let them cook for a few hours.

Once these meatballs are done, take some buns and toast them in the oven. Make sure to put some provolone cheese on the bread so it melts. I used provolone because it is sharp and I like that. You can use mozzarella, Parmesan or even cheddar. Once toasted, add the meatballs and some peppers to the bread. Add a little bit of sauce. You can also add more cheese to the top and place it back into the oven to melt the cheese. One of our guests wanted to add tomatoes and lettuce. We let him. See how easy this first recipe is?

My second recipe is even easier. Take some meatballs from the sauce and drain. Cut up some tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil leaves. I suggest cherry tomatoes but I didn't have any so I just cut my tomatoes into small pieces. Take a toothpick and skewer the tomato, add a piece of mozzarella and a basil leave then pierce the meatball. Make a few of these. Drizzle the appetizers with a little of the sauce from the slow cooker. If you want to add a little more spice, drizzle a little of the Frank's Hot Sauce over the Spicy Meatball Appetizers as well.

How easy is that? The Frank's Red Hot Sauce added a much needed spice to my spicy meatballs. I actually loved this sauce because it is vinegar based. It has a little tartness and, yet, it wasn't so hot that it was impossible to eat. It had the right amount of heat.

The Hamilton Beach slow cooker rocked! It was easy to set up and use. I love that it has rubber around the lid to hold in the food. It will travel really well if you need it to! I love slow cooking. It makes my life so much easier. There is something to be said about being able to add a bunch of food to a slow cooker and then hours later having a wonderful meal! I cannot wait to try the slow cooker again. I am thinking of some of my Willy-Nilly Chili with a little Frank's! Yummo!

Also, check out my Whrrl story. Click on the image below!! And as always, Buen Provecho!!

Disclosure: I received compensation and a slow cooker for this post through Collective Bias. The opinions in this post are solely mine and are based on my experience with the product.