Recipe Sharing: White Sangria

I’m not normally a sangria fan…I prefer vodka. With a Sugar Free Redbull, or Crystal Light, Or Sprite, Or Straight. Whatever.

However, a few weeks ago, I stopped by my mom’s house and she had just made white sangria. It. Was. Fantastic. And STRONG. And very pretty too (all the colors, you know…)


So, here is my mom’s recipe for white sangria that you should make TODAY. (Or you could perhaps wait for the holiday weekend…I guess that would be more appropriate.):
Makes a pitcher of sangria

• 3 Bottles of dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardanay (Just use cheap wine – Trader Joe’s)
• Simple Syrup (add to taste, the recipe below requires less to get sweetness)
• Fruit ( Strawberries, Pineapple, orange slices, apple slices, Star Fruit, Kiwi)
• Fresh Mint Leaves

Making your own simple syrup is also more economical than buying it at the store. You can make as small or as large a batch as you wish and store it in the refrigerator in a well sealed bottle for around 6 months.


Rich Simple Syrup - With this variation you can use less syrup than a cocktail calls for.


Cook Time: 5 minutes; Total Time: 5 minutes


Ingredients:
2 parts sugar
1 part water
Crushed Mint Leaves

Preparation:

1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water then add Mint, stirring constantly.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat. (Note: Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick.)
4. Strain Mint off.
5. Allow to cool completely and thicken, then pour into your wine/fruit mixture.

ENJOY! (Responsibly, that is...:))

Doggie Birthday!

Monday marked our dogs', Beauregard and Brother's, 3rd birthday! Can't believe how quickly they are growing up...:)

Funny part is - their birthday was Monday but Shane and I forgot. We talked about it Friday, Saturday and Sunday - BUT forgot about it on Monday. So we decided to celebrate on Tuesday...

They got these new toys...also known as Moo-Moo and Dragon:

Our dogs don't typically get stuffed animals because they will promptly destroy them. However, these toys are Go Dog toys and have something called Chew Guard Technology...I wasn't sure about these until the sales person said that her two Pit Bulls had these same toys and had had them for over a year. I purchased them and am proud to report that almost 24 hours later - these toys are still intact. With all of their limbs, wings, eyes, etc. I think we may be fans!

 Brother, Shane and Beau...look at Beau - he is so obsessed with his dad.

 This was 20 minutes after the stuffed animal presentation...he was bored. I think he knew that we really missed his big day.

 But this guy was thoroughly entertained. He prefers to see the brighter side of the situation.  

 And we finished the night off with some Frosty Paws! And, yes, we I did sing Happy Birthday as we put down their bowls.

And, in case you are indeed still  reading, I figured I'd share some birthday stuffed animal video footage...is it clear how much we love our dogs?

Aaaannnnd....

We're back. I've been gone a month and I know you missed me.

So, what's been going on? Here is an update on our life over the past month...in no particicular order:

Our friends, Mike and Mandy, got married! It was so beautiful, so fun, so emotional...but only for me apparently. Mandy was cool as a cucumber but I couldn't get myself together...I cried with pretty much everyone who spoke to me. I hate when I do that.

Check out the beautiful bride:

And here are all the bridesmaids...and the bride. She's the one in shorts.

We also hosted another bachelorette party for Mandy the weekend before...it was fun. And crazy. Per usual. We started the night off with pole dancing - and you are for sure high if you think I'm posting pictures of that. But after that we put back on our suburban girl clothes and went to a bar that typically targets the 40-50 crowd...it was awesome.

 Stobbe, Mandy (she's the one in the wig.) and me

 The group...apparently I thought that I needed to squeeze in.

 This guy bought champagne. Perfect.

 And the last picture of the night - HA!

In non-Mandy and Mike related news, here are some highlights:

• I have dyhidrodic eczema on my hands. It has been there since college and I thought that it was warts. Thanks a lot Web MD.
• We bought a deck box for the deck. Clever name. And then got the deck stained. We always do things backwards.
• Our dryer broke. AGAIN. Would I recommend that you purchase a Frigidaire? Um, check this out.

And that pretty much sums it up! Hope that everyone has a great weekend!