Tag Archives: grape juice

White Sangría

26 Mar

I am a sucker for a white sangría… Ever since I visited Spain for the last time about 5 yrs ago, I prefer sangrías made with white wine/grape juice than sangrías made with red. They seem fresher and lighter to my taste.

We made this sangría at Alison’s recently when she invited me to “teach” her a few easy recipes she could make at home for her husband. It was funny because it started like a cooking class, yet we ended up with a nice party entertaining her friends and family celebrating the inaugural issue of the online magazine Karma Life & Style. You might recognize someone as the food editor… hum, hum.

Sangrías are so simple to make and excellent to entertain a crowd. Just mix in a large pitcher, keep cool and enjoy. And make sure to have extra ingredients to make additional batches. I’ve never been able to make just one batch… it goes down smooth like juice!!!!

WHITE SANGRIA

1 bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider or grape must
1 32oz bottle of natural ginger ale
½ can of passion fruit juice concentrate
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 orange, sliced
  • In a pretty glass pitcher, mix all the ingredients together. Let the flavors meld together for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
  • Serve over ice.

Serve over ice.

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Aniette’s Bull

3 Apr

 Aniette has been my friend for many years now… since high school, now that I think about it.  We might not be in contact very frequently, but when we get together is like time has not passed by.  We have been with each other thru many good and not so good times and I am very grateful and fortunate to call her my friend…  Aniette is the original creator of the Sweet Red Pepper Dip – she was the one who showed me how to make it after a long guessing session trying to decipher what was the dip made off.  Aniette is also fluent in French… ever since high school she was reading full novels in French.  I invited her to our little French-speaking soiree, but she was planning a romantic weekend with her husband, so I could not really coax her into coming to my house to just speak French… no contest there.

But even though she was not here in person, she was with us in spirit… because the signature drink I served up at our French get-together was also inspired by Aniette – I had a version of this “bull” at a get-together we had at Chez Aniette a few months back.  I almost drank the whole pitcher by myself…  I was blown away by how delicious it tasted.

Why call it a “bull”??  I don’t know… Don’t shoot the messenger here, but in Puerto Rico we call a punch, like the kind served at the high school parties you see in the movies, a “bull”, pronounced “bul” – short U and short L.  And a punch bowl is called a “bulera”.  Hey… I don’t make this stuff up.  Besides, this will be a fun anecdote to tell around the “bulera” the next time you’re invited to a party, no??

This is an adaptation of Aniette’s original recipe, because I could not find all the ingredients I wanted for the original version… but the alternate was a hit as well, and so, I still give Aniette full credit.

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ANIETTE’S BULL

1 can frozen passion fruit juice concentrate
16oz of guava juice
8oz of grape juice
8 oz of orange juice
1 bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider – non-alcoholic
  1. Allow the frozen concentrate to thaw out a bit in the fridge.
  2. Mix all the ingredients in a pitcher.
  3. Serve chilled over ice.

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