sangria time!

There has been a ton to celebrate in our house this past month (I got a new job! and Alex finished a huge paper for school and is now one step closer to graduating with his teaching credential!)! So with all of our celebrating, I’ve not only been neglecting my blog, but also the kitchen. Celebration mode for us sometimes means eating at some of our favorite restaurants.
But I’m trying to get back into the swing of things and my most recent blog-worthy recipe was for one of my favorite cocktails – sangria. I’ve yet to find a sangria recipe that I didn’t like, and probably won’t since it’s pretty impossible to screw up sangria. With a bottle of wine, some sliced fresh fruit and other ingredients to doctor up the drink, it’s so delicious! Especially on a warm day, a nice glass of cold sangria is perfect.


Rojo (Red) Sangria
This recipe was adapted from Raley’s Something Extra magazine. I used the base of ingredients, but added a few others to make it even more delicious.
One of the things that is great about sangria is that you can use cheap wine and no one will ever know the difference, so it takes on the flavors of the fruit and cinnamon.
1 ½ cups orange juice
½ cup apricot flavored brandy
2 tablespoons triple sec
3 tablespoons sugar
1 (750-ml.) bottle of red wine (we used two-buck Chuck Shiraz)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
Orange, lemon, lime, strawberry slices
1 ½ cups chilled lime flavored sparkling water
Stir juices, liqueur and sugar together in a pitcher until the sugar has dissolved.
Add sliced fruit, cinnamon sticks, clover and chill until ready to serve.
Just before serving, add sparkling water and serve.
Cheers!!