Tag Archives: entertaining

Faux Sangria

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As if my Mom wasn’t already amazing enough, she is also the creator of this amazing drink that I am about to share with you! Whether or not she will actually read this post is debatable, as it took her about three years to finally master Facebook and a whole seven years to finally hop on the iPhone bandwagon (although she did just learn how to post pictures from her iPhone to Facebook, so there may be hope for her after all lol). Whenever I tell her about my blog she seems confused so either she doesn’t know how to navigate it or she is just too busy being awesome to find the time to read my nonsensical babble, so to give her the benefit of the doubt I’ll say it’s the latter lol.

Anyway, on my recent trip home my Mom offered me “faux sangria” and while all I heard was “diluted alcohol”  (yuck lol) when I tasted it I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually tasted exactly like the sangria at one of our favorite mexican joints back home, day = made! I was even more excited when she told me that you could make it using only two or three ingredients, whaaaaaaaat?! Needless to say when we got back to NC the ingredients for “faux sangria” were at the top of my shopping list (and here I sit enjoying a glass as I write this post and pray that hurricane Arthur doesn’t knock out my power lol). I love a good summer cocktail and I especially love one that is easy to whip up and doesn’t cost a fortune in ingredients you will only use an ounce of (a problem I encountered when making  my whiskey punch for J’s 30th, I will post about this soon). While I know this isn’t the most creative recipe and is I’m sure, by no means an original, I still think it’s worth posting because I for one am always looking for new budget friendly cocktails, especially those that lend themselves to social gatherings a.k.a. ones that are cheap lol. I hope you whip up a batch for your next fiesta, even if you’re like me and your “fiesta” involves working on your blog while hubby and baby snooze haha.

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I let baby P have at one of the apples while I was making the sangria, only 20 years and three months until he can give it a taste lol

 

FAUX SANGRIA

NOTE: This recipe can be doubled, tripled etc. It is GREAT for a party and you can use any combination of fruit, I actually plan to come up with a variety of “faux sangrias” using different wine, fruit and oj combos. If you’re on the “skinny” train lighten it up by using Trop50 or if you like a sweeter cocktail add some simple syrup.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 750 mL bottle red wine (I like dry wines and think that the OJ gives the cocktail enough sweetness but if you’d like it sweeter use a sweet red)
  • 3 cups orange juice
  • Juice of half a lemon (this just brightens up the flavors, feel free to omit it if you don’t like/have lemons)
  • 1 Apple, cubed
  • 1 Orange, quartered and sliced thin

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving – enjoy!

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Mini Caprese Bites

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While I’m on the subject of tiny food (see yesterday’s post on mini pancake stacks here), I have to share another adorable mini food creation from this week. My hubby recently underwent an inspection at work which went perfectly, so the Colonel arranged a little potluck to congratulate J and his team on a job well done. Since I was going to have to prepare the item during P’s nap and drop it off to J at work, it had to be something that wouldn’t require too much prep work and would also transport easily. I decided to go with mini caprese bites, a mini version of traditional caprese – fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil and balsamic reduction. These are quite the Pinterest sensation which is how I got to try and LOVE them when I made them for the baby shower I threw my SIL last year. Here is how I assembled them using halved grape tomatoes, mini fresh mozzarella balls (available in the specialty cheese section or at the olive bar in many grocery stores), fresh basil and balsamic glaze. These are perfect for entertaining, SUPER delicious and so pretty to look at 🙂

First, I halved my grape tomatoes, drained my mozzarella balls (if you don’t want to purchase balls just buy a large piece of fresh mozzarella and cut into squares) and cut my basil (I cut the large leaves into quarters, the medium sized leaves in half and left the smaller leaves as they were).

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I only ate one while prepping them 😉

Next, I assembled my mini caprese bites by threading half a tomato (through the non-cut end first) then a folded piece of basil and finally a piece of mozarella.

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Finally, I assembled them in a sort of star burst pattern on a platter.

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I didn’t drizzle the balsamic glaze on right away since they were going to be sitting for a bit before being served. Still so pretty though! 🙂

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This is a pic from the first time I made them for my SIL’s baby shower.

 

 

 

“Short Stack” Pancakes – Perfect for Brunch!

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I LOVE tiny food, I basically wish each of my meals were served in the form of a wedding cocktail hour (cocktails included obviously lol). I also love brunch, as I enjoy breakfast foods but not necessarily at breakfast time, also brunch usually means mimosas :). This week our weekly baby play date was a brunch and I was all about it since I couldn’t wait to try my hand at making some of those adorable mini pancakes that have been popping up all over Pinterest. Since I have been trying to really stick to our grocery budget (I plan to post about my budget soon!) I wanted to make something for our brunch date using mostly pantry ingredients so pancakes were perfect, all I had to buy were blueberries. The pancakes were a hit and I even had left over batter for breakfast this Saturday, J was so pleased :). I was able to whip these up during P’s morning nap using a pancake recipe that was proclaimed “best pancake recipe” on Pinterest. I liked the pancakes a lot, however, they were a little on the sweet side, so next time I think I will reduce the sugar by half, although I compare all pancakes to Long Island diner pancakes which are my fave and the recipe had rave reviews by other pinners, so perhaps this recipe is in fact the “best pancake recipe” it just is not what I am used to, so try it out for yourself :). Here is how I assembled my “short stacks”:

 

First, make your pancakes using whatever recipe you choose, I used the one mentioned in the link above but you could also use store bought mix or your own favorite recipe. I made the pancakes using a 1/2 Tbsp. measuring spoon to spoon tiny little pancakes onto the griddle.

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  amazingly I only ate about 5 during the cooking process 🙂

Next, assemble your pancakes into stacks of three. This recipe would have made close to 50 stacks  total if I had used all the batter.

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Now, take a toothpick and thread on a blueberry or fruit/garnish of your choice and stick your little stack 🙂

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That’s it! I served with syrup in a tiny little spouted cup that I stole from a diner somewhere – so cute!

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and you know what else was cute that day … my squishy baby!!!

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I can’t even! 🙂