It is pouring rain here in Washington, D.C. We’ve hardly had any rain at all since the floods around the 4th of July, which is really too bad. No rain means there’s rarely a break in the heat, and the grass gets brittle and takes the fun out of a mid-afternoon stroll.

But really, I’ve just missed spending a good rainy day in the house with a book; a book and some comfort food. My idea of rainy-day food includes chicken soup, omelets, fresh-baked cookies, and hearty pastas — although not all at once of course.

So while I’m trudging through the downpour this morning, dreaming of the hot foods I don’t have, my mind wanders to one of my favorite picture books, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I think it’s pretty obvious that I love food, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the idea of food raining down from the sky was a pretty interesting idea to my 5-year-old self.

There are quite a few different types of “precipitation” the characters experience throughout the story, but I thought I’d share a quick and easy recipe for my mother’s cocktail meatballs. They’re hardly gourmet, but they sure are tasty. I dare you to try this at home!

Cocktail Meatballs:

• Buy a bag of frozen meatballs (small ones that you can pick up with a toothpick) and cook according to the instructions. I suppose if you’re really ambitious you could make some from scratch, but quick and easy was always our motto!
• Mix together roughly 1.5 bottles of chili sauce and, no I’m not kidding about this, half a jar of grape jelly. Add more of either until you like the taste.
• Let simmer on the stove or in your crockpot.
• Stab with toothpicks and enjoy!