Here is a meatball dish sweet enough to make any kid happy - and it reheats beautifully for a potluck dinner.
1 kg ground chicken, (or turkey, or lean ground beef)
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, very finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1-in. chunk fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken with the eggs, bread crumbs, chopped onion, salt and pepper. Mix until evenly combined. Now, with clean wet hands, have your child help you form the mixture into small (1 in. / 2 cm diameter) meatballs. You could let her do it all by herself, but it will take all day - which, come to think of it, may not be such a bad thing. Place meatballs onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 375°F(190°C) for 20 minutes, turning them over about halfway through. (Remind your child not to taste the raw meatball mixture, and to wash her hands well after touching it.)
While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. The easiest way to do this is to place all the ingredients for the sauce - the garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, water and cornstarch - into the container of a blender and (wheeee!) blend until smooth-ish. If you don't have a blender, you can do this in a food processor or just mix everything together in a bowl (grate the ginger and chop the garlic finely). Pour this mixture into an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens and becomes glossy.
When the meatballs are done, remove from the pan leaving any fat behind, and dump into the casserole with the sauce. Bring back to a boil, then remove from the stove and place into the oven. Bake, uncovered, at 325°F (160°C) for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.
To serve at a potluck dinner, reheat the meatballs in the oven, the microwave or on the stove. If you have a Crock-Pot, you could even use that to reheat the meatballs and keep them warm for serving.