My Very First Time Making Fall Sangria!

I'll never forget the first time I tried sangria. While studying abroad in Florence, Italy, my friend Danielle and I decided to visit our friend Amanda who was studying in Barcelona, Spain. During our visit, Amanda took us sight-seeing and we ended the day having dinner with her roommate at a nice restaurant. And that was where we ordered a pitcher of red sangria, clanked our glasses, and I had my first sip of what would become one of my favorite drinks.

Trying our first glasses of sangria five years ago!

Fast forward to a few years later. By this time, I'd had sangria a handful of times but I didn't realize until recently that it's one of my favorite drinks. I guess it became one of my favorites because it contains wine and fruit. My friends and I enjoy eating the fruit out of the bottom once it's done, and who doesn't? When I started seeing a nutritionist, she also recommended I drink wine instead of light beer (my favorite used to be Amstel Lite because it was only one point on Weight Watchers). I grew accustomed to drinking wine for the past two years, and it's nice to see what else you can do with it.

This past September, I went to visit a different friend for her birthday, and once I told her I was coming, she informed me they would be making fall sangria! Up until this point, I had tasted sangria in the spring, summer, and winter, but not in the fall. So I was very excited! Fall is my favorite season, and I was interested in seeing what fall sangria tasted like.

I ended up enjoying the sangria along with the cheese and sausage they had on the rooftop. And I liked that sangria so much, I decided to look for fall sangria recipes to try. I'm happy to say I was successful in finding one that's definitely a keeper! It was so good I made it again a couple weeks later, and bought another bottle of wine to keep in handy in case we make it again soon. How often does that happen?

Sparkling Apple Cider Sangria

What You'll Need:

• 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup cognac
• 2 cups apple cider
• 750ml bottle cava (or other dry sparkling wine), chilled
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds 

Instructions:

1. Add the apples to a large pitcher. If you'd like to get a bit more fancy, save 1/2c of the sliced
   apples to top the drinks with. Now add the apple cider, cava and cognac. Stir well. 
2. Fill the pitcher with ice, and pour the sangria into glasses. Top the drinks with the 1/2 c of sliced apples and pomegranate seeds. 

Since I'm also a big fan of country music, I was excited to pair one of my favorite country songs with this recipe. If you haven't guessed what it is already, it's "Sangria" by Blake Shelton. It's the perfect fit, don't you think?

As far as this recipe goes, I got it from a website called "kitchn." It was created by a woman named Maureen Petrosky, and her post can be found here. She also posted nine other fall sangria recipes. I have yet to try them but I bet they're good!

*All rights to the sangria recipe go to Maureen Petrosky of "kitchn," and all the rights to the song "Sangria" go to Blake Shelton.

Enjoy Some Shamrock Cookies This St. Patrick's Day

Recipe: Shamrock Cookies Dipped in Chocolate
Song: "C'est La Vie" by B*Witched

Yes, my blog is still going. I haven't been on here in a while, but I'm happy to announce that I started a new temporary job! I'm hoping that since I don't have to concentrate on looking for a position anymore, I can start blogging much more than I used to. I'm starting to adjust to a work schedule again!

While I'm enjoying this new position, this post is about a recipe for St. Patrick's Day, so let me cut to the chase and tell you about it.

During my train ride home from work one day, my mom sent me this recipe from Joann Fabrics. I didn't follow it completely because I forgot to get green and white non-pareils, but these chocolate-dipped shamrock cookies still turned out great! My co-workers and family loved them, and I'll definitely be making these again.






Shamrock Cookies Dipped In Chocolate

My co-worker loved discovering the chocolate!

What You'll Need:

• Shamrock cookie-cutter
• Green sprinkles for garnish
• A sugar cookie recipe-I used one from one of my mom's old Betty Crocker books
• Green food-coloring
• 12oz Light Cocoa Candy Melts Candy

Directions:

1. Make sugar cookies. Tint the dough green.
      *Note: Joann's website tells you to use a formula using blue and yellow food coloring by i just used green 
        food-colring. I decided to not go too crazy with it. It's a bit difficult coloring food sometimes (especially making 
        something appear red!) but my cookies came out looking a bit tye-dyed. They still looked nice!
2. Shape cookies using shamrock cookie cutter.
3. Sprinkle green sprinkles on top of cookies before placing them in the oven
4. Once the cookies are finished baking, cool them completely.
5. Prepare the chocolate candy melts according to package instructions.
6. Spread melted chocolate on the bottom of each cookie
7. Place cookies chocolate-side down on a cookie sheet covered with parchment or wax paper.
8. Refrigerate cookies for 10-15 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

During my spin class Wednesday morning, my instructor played some Irish music in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  However, she also did something creative and decided to feature a song by an Irish band (U2). I chose to do the same thing for this recipe. When I was in elementary school, B*Witched, an Irish band, was very popular. And I remember singing along to their hit song "C'est La Vie." It has a very catchy tune and I'll admit that I still play it from time-to time. Here is a link to its music video. It goes perfect with this recipe, don't you think? You can hear them sing with an Irish accent, and they even do a little bit of Irish step-dancing in the video!

*All rights to the original recipe go to Joann Fabrics.
*All rights to the song "C'est La Vie" go to B*Witched.