So, about that Sangria...

Pioneer Woman Sangria

Verdict: Not bad!  Some kick, but still sweet.
Make it Again:  Maybe??  I'm not a big sangria person.
Cost Factor:  CRAZY EXPENSIVE!  $67.26 and I only used half the wine it called for!

I am one of those people that can take or leave sangria.  Generally speaking, when most people think, "oh, I could go for some sangria," I'm okay with a nice, crisp glass of wine instead.  (I suppose you could say that I prefer my wine straight up!)  Although it's not at all fair to say I was dreading this recipe (like I did the gazpacho), I was not particularly looking forward to it over any other recipe, either.  It was just something to try.  I joined a cooking club, and that's what we do. 

And it was easy enough to make, and in the end it wasn't bad at all, but I was pretty put off by how expensive it was to make.  (No offense to whomever picked the recipe, mind you!)

The recipe calls for grapes, orange, lime, apple, and 1.5 L each of red wine and white wine, some sugar, and a cup each of orange-flavored vodka and orange-flavored rum.  If I had actually purchased all the wine, it would have been $90 to make this.  $90!!!!!  (I am quite sure I will get fussed at for having an overly-negative post, but in my mind, if I'm spending $90 on a wine concoction, I'd prefer to spend $90 on a very nice bottle of wine, thankyouverymuch.)

To save at least a little bit, and because I wasn't sure whether we'd even drink it all, I halved the amount of wine it called for.  Unfortunately, you can't buy half a cup of grapes, so I still ended up with POUNDS of green and red grapes.  Now, granted, we love grapes, but that's still a LOT of fruit to finish in this house, and I'm left hoping they won't go bad.  The orange, lemon, and lime and apple were fine.  But unfortunately, you also can't buy flavored liquors in flask-size bottles, so even after asking for help at the liquor store and finding the most reasonably-priced stuff possible, it ended up costing $29.66 for the two bottles of vodka and rum, two bottles which we may never otherwise use.*

*point of fact:  thinking the same thing, Mick actually Googled some recipes that use these, and found at least one that he was able to make last night.  He sat and enjoyed a cocktail of his own.  So maybe they're not wasted after all, but the truth is that but for this recipe, we'd never have bought these particular liquors.

Everybody ready to go.  See my new go-to wines there?  I am in love with Apothic wines!

Okay, okay, so we could have modified this and made it less expensive.  But I really try whenever possible to make the recipes as they are written.  (Except when they call for things like zucchini or squash, in which case I don't care how it's written, it's not happening!)  And the truth is that there are a gazillion ways to make sangria and the whole point was to try this specific sangria. So ... I made it.  (I was really, reallllly hoping I'd like it, since it cost me two hours of tutoring!)

In all seriousness, I might have preferred sitting down and eating this bowl of fruit while drinking a crisp glass of white wine. But I am not a spoilsport, even if I am a little whiny today.  Wine-y.  hahahah.  Get it?  Get it?! 

I had no idea how much space the mix would take, so I mixed it all together in a giant soup tureen, and planned to pour it or ladle it into my pitcher later.  (I didn't want to end up with an overflowing pitcher!  That turned out to be some good thinkin', because we went right to the brim of my pitcher!)

The finished product before it marinated.  It really does look pretty, doesn't it?!

In the end, I had some girlfriends over to sit on the back deck and catch up last night, and we all enjoyed it -- both the catching up and the sangria!  The sangria has a little bite from the vodka and rum, and it is sweet because of the sugar.  The sweetness balances the punch just right, and makes it a very easy drink to gulp down.  Did I just say that?  No, we ladies sipped.  Definitely sipped.

The whole concoction marinated overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, so the fruits were a little too potent for me, but we still drank the pitcher dry... of course, we might have drunk MD20/20 bottles empty, too ... we're just cool like that, and it's summer and we were gossiping venting catching up.

So what's the ultimate verdict?  Would I make it again? We have the liquor now, so perhaps, but as I said earlier -- I prefer my wine straight up.  I already buy wine that I enjoy drinking; why mess it up with fruit I won't eat?  If we were having a party and I wanted to be festive, I might whip this up, but I don't think I'll make it just to sip and watch tv. 

And there you have it.  We made all the recipes this month, and every single one was tasty.  Not a dud in the house! Hooray!

--Jen

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