Sangria

Next up in our week full of Cinco de Mayo recipes: Sangria! I haven't had that much Sangria in my life; in fact, I only just tried it recently for the very first time. However, I loved it at first sip. It's a red wine that has been steeping pretty much all day in fruit juices and sugar and, I am sure, a variety of other things depending on how it is made. Certainly, there are endless possibilities with Sangria.

I found a pretty basic, standard (I think!) recipe that I wanted to try out. I did not let it sit for 24 hours before serving, as the instructions indicated. I gave it over 8 hours, though, and there is still some left in the fridge, so we'll have to see if the extra day really makes a difference!

For our purposes, my husband and I bought both ginger ale and club soda as the carbonated portion of the beverage. I prefer to drink diet sodas normally, but I don't think that would have been very good in there. So, it was ginger ale for hubby, and club soda for me. I have to tell you, I really did not miss the sweetened ginger ale at all. The club soda worked out very well; it gave it fizz, and I thought the Sangria was just sweet enough. One final note, though; I do very much apologize for my lackluster photos! I really need to practice my beverage picture-taking; I just can't seem to figure out the best camera angles when it comes to drinks. Oh, well. Here's the recipe!

Sangria
adapted from about.com
makes about 12 or so cups (not including ice)

Ingredients
1 bottle red wine (any will work but I used a Garnacha)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 grapefruit, cut into wedges
2 Tbsp. sugar
Splash of lemonade (I used a mango lemonade, about 2 oz.)
2 shots of gin or triple sec (I used gin)
1 cup strawberries, sliced (thawed or frozen works; mine were fresh)
1 small can diced pineapples with juice
4 cups ginger ale or club soda

Directions
1. Pour the wine into a large pitcher and squeeze the juices of the lemon, lime, and grapefruit into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges, leaving out the seeds if possible.

2. Add the pineapple, the sugar, lemonade, and gin. At this point, I also added my strawberries, then read that you're supposed to add them in at the end. I think my way was fine, but do whatever works!

3. Chill up to 8 hours or overnight (the longer this sits, the better it gets). Just before serving, add in ice and either ginger ale or club soda. We served ours with both (I used the club soda, and my husband used the ginger ale). So, I filled up each glass halfway with the sangria (I strained it first, since it does get gritty), then threw in the soda and the ice, and stirred well before serving.