Red, Red Wine...

...you make me feel so fine! ;) I like wine. I love sangria. I am a big fan of the red sangrias at Carrabba's and Olive Garden. I love the pairing of fresh fruit with a nice full-bodied red wine. So when I saw a recipe for a sangria on 'Ten Dollar Dinners' I had to try it. I have loved all of Melissa D'Arabian's recipes that I have tried so far, so I was hoping this one would not disappoint me either. The recipe was actually for a non-alcoholic sangria, but since I'm not pregnant anymore and the tiny man gives me 4 to 5 hour stretches of sleep at night, I decided a little wine wouldn't hurt. ;)

I started the sangria (click here for the full recipe) early in the day by getting all the fruit and juice prepared so that all of the flavors could meld together.  Below is a pic of all of the ingredients I used.

I peeled, cored and thinly sliced an apple. I used a Golden Delicious because that is what I had in the fridge.

Then I juiced one lemon and poured this over the apple slices. Next I peeled a tangelo (I used this instead of an orange because I love their flavor) and added these slices to the mix. Then I juiced an additional tangelo and added that in too. After that it was time to add the fruit juice concentrate. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup of cranberry-grape juice frozen concentrate, but I couldn't find this at the store, so I used 1/2 cup of grape juice frozen concentrate and 1/2 cup of raspberry-pomegranate frozen concentrate. The last thing to add at this point was a dash of ground cinnamon. Once I mixed everything up in the pitcher, I put it in the fridge to chill all day.

Later in the day I added in the wine that I wanted to use. I chose a cabernet sauvignon (instead of a white wine like the recipe calls for) because I thought it would balance the sweetness of all the fruit and juice and I prefer a red sangria to a white one. I added in 1 1/2 cups of this and allowed it to continue to sit in the fridge. Once I was ready to serve it, I added in 1 1/2 cups of seltzer water and mixed everything together well. A few ice cubes in the glasses and it was ready to go!

I must say that it was one of the best sangrias I have had and at a price tag much nicer than you will find at any restaurant too! :) This will definitely be one I make again. Let me know if you try it and any variations you use!!