Merlot and Brandy Sangria

I have never tried sangria! I like wine; I like fruit; And I LOVE ginger ale, which happen to all be great ingredients for sangria. It seems sangria would be something I would really enjoy. Well...I do! It's delicious! I made a batch for my 40th birthday gathering and considering there wasn't any left, I'd say others agree that it's some pretty good stuff.

There are a number of ingredients that go into sangria, but it is super easy to make. The main ingredient is wine. I used a boxed wine, although I didn't use just any boxed wine. Bota Box wine is pretty darn good for wine in a box. I would also recommend The Big Green Box. I know, some of you wine snobs are shifting in your seats right now as you read this, but don't completely knock it till you try it. ;) Both of these wines will work great for sangria. They both even make a great 'everyday' wine.

As for the brandy, I honestly don't know a thing about brandy. I used E&J XO Exta Smooth Brandy. I'm not the best judge of brandy, but it tastes pretty good and I suppose that is all that matters.



Mix the wine, brandy, orange juice, and simple syrup in a 6 quart drink dispenser or bowl.

We have a juicer, so I juiced 1 orange for a 1/2 cup worth of juice.



If you don't have simple syrup, it's worth making. Regular sugar won't completely dissolve in a cold liquid and will just end up sinking to the bottom.



Simple syrup recipe for beverages:
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Karo light syrup (optional)

Directions:
Bring water to a boil, lower the heat to low, add sugar and stir constantly till the sugar completely dissolves. Once dissolved, remove from heat. Add Karo light syrup, stir and let cool. The corn syrup is optional. It gives the simple syrup a creamier consistency which I prefer. Simple syrup is great to have on hand to sweeten any beverage. We store ours in a mason jar and keep it in the refrigerator.

Once you have your wine, brandy, orange juice and simple sugar mixed together, chopping and dicing is pretty much all there is to making sangria.










Let sit over night. Add ginger ale to sangria mixture when ready to serve.

Sangria is not only really good, it looks so pretty! Garnish with fruit for the finishing touch.



Red Merlot and Brandy Sangria Recipe:
52 oz Merlot wine (or 2 bottles)
6 oz brandy (6 shots)
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup simple syrup
2 lemons sliced into wedges
2 blood oranges sliced into wedges
2 Gala apples cored and sliced into wedges
2 cups red grapes cut in half
3 cups pineapple cored and diced
5 12oz cans of ginger ale

Directions:
Mix wine, brandy, orange juice and simple syrup together in a 6 quart drink dispenser or bowl. De-seed and squeeze the lemon and orange wedges into sangria mixture and toss in wedges. Add the remaining fruit and stir. Refrigerate 8-12 hours. When ready to serve, add ginger ale and mix. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Note: You can also add ice to the sangria. I prefer adding ice to the individual glasses. This way the sangria doesn’t get watered down.

F T W Margaritas

This post took longer to get to than planned. I actually lost my notes, so I had to make another batch. Darn. ;)



I made this margarita mix for super bowl and it was a hit! There wasn't a drop left. It's so simple to make and all you need is tequila, limeade, and oranges (or orange juice).

Recipe 1/2 batch (makes a little more than 1/2 gallon)
Approximately 6-8 servings
1 12oz can of frozen Minute Maid Limeade
3 oranges (or 3/4 cup orange juice and 1 orange)
1 1/2 cup to 2 cups tequila
Water

Recipe full batch (makes a little more than 1 gallon)
Approximately 12-16 servings
2 12oz cans of frozen Minute Maid Limeade
4 oranges (or 1 1/2 cups orange juice and 1 orange)
3 cups to 3 1/2 cups tequila
Water

Directions:
Empty limeade into margarita container and add 4 cans of water per can. Stir till frozen limeade is fully dissolved. Squeeze or juice all but one orange. (I have a juicer, so this part is easy. If you don't have a juicer, just use bought orange juice. If the oranges aren't sweet, I would also then use bought orange juice.) Add tequila and mix. I use the lower amount of tequila, but if you like it stronger, add more. Slice the left over orange and add to mix. Salt glass and serve over ice.




Voila...for the win margaritas!

If you want to splurge, you can of course add triple sec instead of or an addition to the orange juice. I would add 3/4 cup for the half batch, and 1 1/3 cup for a full batch.



If you want to keep it cold and you've made a batch a head of time, before you add the tequila, add some of the mix to ice cub trays to freeze. This way you can add ice but it doesn't get watered down. I used the above container for the full batch I made for super bowl. I then forgot to take any pictures of it. :/ It looked so pretty too!

Perfect for a big get together, or just having a few friends over. Add chips and salsa and you're set!

Lemonade

I had a chef (not my husband) tell me making sweet lemonade was hard to make. It wasn't the lemonade part he was referring to, it was the making it sweet. It's not! I'm not trying to brag, but I just made the best lemonade I've ever tasted. It's all about the simple syrup. It surprises me that I've never made simple syrup before. Just like the name...it's simple!

I used:
1 cup sugar, 1 cup water to make the simple syrup. We buy organic sugar from Costco.
1 cup of fresh lemonade and water. I used a juicer which makes this part really easy.
I unfortunately didn't measure the water. I just filled the pitcher.
Yumm-good!



Since I love lemonade so much, I'm going to try using brown sugar with blue agave next time to help decrease my sugar intake.