When the sun won’t shine for your birthday party, make a Sunny Sangria instead. :)
I’ve been gearing up the past couple days for my birthday party tonight. We’re having about 25-30 people over so it should be a great time! This makes the first of two birthday potlucks this weekend. We have another with family tomorrow at our place too. Hopefully, the house is still standing by then, but I’m not making any promises. ;) My actual birthday is Monday and Eric is taking me out for dinner.
I better loosen my belt!
For today’s party I’m making Sunny White Sangria, Raw Triple Berry Fruit Crisp, Homemade Edename Hummus & veggies, chips & Nacho cheeze sauce, salsa, and Eric is going to fire up the BBQ. Friends are bringing along a savoury or sweet dish, so I have a feeling there is going to be a ton of food!
Back to this Sunny White Sangria. You know, the one I was taste-testing at 8am this morning? Sometimes a birthday girl just needs a little wine for breakfast to kick off her day.
I’ve actually never made a White Sangria before, only red, so this was a new experience for me. I thought a White Sangria would be nice and Spring-like. Being the fruit lover that I am, I loaded this with orange, lemon, lime, mango, and pineapple slices, kissed with orange juice and natural cane sugar. It turned out pretty darn fantastic and I’m sure it will taste even better after chilling for the next 8 hours.
[print_this]
Sunny White Sangria
Adapted from Oprah.
Ingredients:
- 2 bottles dry to semidry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay
- 2-3 cups orange juice (freshly squeezed preferred), to taste
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 2 limes, sliced
- 1 orange, sliced
- 1 can pineapple chunks with juice
- 1 large handful frozen mango chunks
- 3/4 cup natural cane sugar, or to taste
- Club soda (optional) (I will add 1 can before serving)
- Ice, optional
Directions: Add everything except the sugar into a large pitcher and stir well. Add sugar to taste and adjust until your desired sweetness is achieved. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours prior to serving. Before serving, you may add some club soda & ice if desired. Taste again and add more sweetener if necessary.
Note: I made a double batch, so you can always cut this in half using 1 bottle of white wine.
[/print_this]
Sangria, I’ll see you tonight! muhauha.
In the meantime, I have some deck updates for you…
Eric took a few days off work this week and Shayne and Dan helped him each day. They got so much done! It was such a great week weather-wise for deck building too.
I’m so excited to be able to walk straight out onto the deck from the back door! I can’t believe I can finally walk on the deck now.
There will be stairs going down in the middle (and stairs on each end).
I think they are doing such a wonderful job. You’d never know that a professional didn’t do this.
When Eric made the deck plan, he wanted to include a couple sections with diagonal boards and they turned out really nice. It was a bit more work with math & measuring, but the result was worth it.
This is all that remains for the base. After this comes the railing and stairs. The weather is calling for rain for a week straight, so it probably won’t be touched until end of next week, unless that changes!
I’m off for a little hot yoga to kick off my day and then back to work getting this place ready for tonight.
Coming up, I have a delicious Raw Triple Berry Crisp to share. Have a great Saturday!
I don’t usually drink al lot but that sangria looks delicious! Happy birthday in advance, I hope you’ll have lots of fun! :))
Wow I’ve never heard of that type of sangria, looks awesome! Actually it looks like sun tea…I might have too much. The deck looks great. Eric is a jack of all trades! Enjoy the party!!
I love the progress you two are making with the deck. It’s going to look beautiful! :-D
Happy Birthday! (Kind of.) The fruit looks amazing!
WOW!! The deck looks amazing! Happy Early Birthday my dear, and I can’t wait to see (and enjoy some sangria) with you tonight!! :) Have fun at yoga!
You might want to make a third batch of that Sangria, because I’m going to be all over it tonight! Hehe ;) It’s my favourite spring/summer drink. Too bad about the weather today, but don’t let that put a damper on the party!
This looks AMAZING!!! Thank you for posting, I can’t wait to try it when we recieve our shipment of my house hold goods that has our wine collection in it. We just moved back to the USA from Italy, so our house hold goods are in storage until Friday.
This looks AMAZING!!! Thank you for posting, I can’t wait to try it when we recieve our shipment of my house hold goods that has our wine collection in it. We just moved back to the USA from Italy, so our house hold goods are in storage until Friday.
Happy early birthday! Oprah knows what’s up. That Sangria looks delicious.
That sangria is right up my alley! I have only had the regular red sangria but this looks amazing! I love anything with pineapple and mango!
I can’t believe how quickly the deck is coming along! It looks great! You will be deck lounging in the sun in now time!
yay for birthdays :) you better bring it in with a bang! your deck is coming out gorgeous. it’s HUGE too!! I would sun bathe on that deck 24/7.
i love sangria but I’ve only ever had red and white seems so refreshing for spring! I’ll give to give it a go.
Have a great birthday weekend, rain or shine! The deck looks great. I love diagonal boards to switch things up. The builder actually did that with our wood floors inside our house in two of our rooms and I love it :)
Wow, that looks good. My lil man. Turns 2 today so we wont have sangria but we do have an elmo jumphouse lol ;) happy early bday. Enjoy your party!
I was wondering if you could make a graham cracker, or animal cracker recipe using no butter or oil. I have been trying to look for one online but i cant find any!!!! Thank youu!
The deck looks outstanding!!! Way to go Eric + crew! Happy happy pre-birthday!! I’ve never made sangria, but love it. The fruit shots are gorgeous. So vibrant. Have a great weekend lovely!! xo
That sangria looks to die for! I want some!
The deck is coming along very nicely! Definitely could never tell it wasn’t done by a professional! The diagonal part look beautiful!
Have a great birthday party! :D
Happy Birthday Angela! I hope you have a great birthday weekend and the deck + sangria look great. Have fun at yoga!
the deck looks GREAT!! I feel old actually admiring a deck lol but it’s seriously so nice. It sounds like its gonna be quite the weekend, happy early birthday!!!
The deck looks beautiful! And it definitely looks professional!
I love sangria and it is the perfect choice for a big party meal. Happy (early) Birthday!
Yum! I think that you’ll have to make this sangria again in a few weeks to celebrate your new deck. White sangria just screams backyard decks in the summer!