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.
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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.
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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!
Happy Early Birthday! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen white sangria, but this looks divine; I think the fruits you chose to include are a big part of why it must work so well….mmm :)
Congrats on the deck coming along — it really does look professional!
I don’t know what to comment on first…the GORGEOUS fresh sangria, the AWESOME, professional-looking deck, or your bday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you have a wonderful time! :)
YUM!! This looks so good, I will have to try it soon! Hope that you have a wonderful few days of celebrating!! And Happy Birthday!
I love sangria!!
Happy early Birthday!
That sangria looks absolutely delicious! So sunny and spring like! I think it would fit well with brunch as well.
Happy early birthday! I have the same birthday as you haha! But I’m probably ten years younger than you. I am obviously not allowed to drink but I think my mom will really love this. She loves sangria!! :D
Have a great party!!
Happy Birthday!!!! I hope you have a blast tonight!!!
The deck is GORGEOUS! outside living is so great!!
Hi Angela, Happy early birthday! The deck is coming along great! The sangria looks so yummy! I have a thing for lemons so this really turned me on!
Happy (early) Birthday! That sangria looks amazing! I’ve seen recipes for white sangria before, but never had any. It looks refreshing!
I’ve never been a huge sangria fan but that looks amazing. I’m a sucker for citrus.
Happy Early Birthday! I hope you have a great time celebrating with your friends and family. That is my plan for today as well because it is my birthday! :)
I did hot yoga this morning! We are Saturday twins! :)
Can’t wait for that raw fruit crisp recipe! It sounds amazing!
I’m so sad I can’t make it tonight (and I just realized, did I even RSVP?!?!?!?!) but it sounds like it’ll be a blast! Have loads of fun!!!
Happy Birthday! I hope your new year is filled with happiness :-)
Enjoy hot yoga! I’m househunting this weekend and the outdoor space is so important to me. That deck is looking good already!
Sangria looks so yummy! I have a reservation at a Cuban place end of this month to take my sister when she’s visiting Tampa. They are known for their tableside sangria which looks like yours! DELISH!
The sangria looks so good! I’m sure it will be a huge hit. The deck looks awesome! I’m impressed. Happy early birthday Angela! :)
Sangria with orange juice… great idea! Kind of like a mimosa :) Deck is looking great too!
Ooh that looks so much more appealing to me than normal sangria!! I can’t believe I’ve never tried it before! Enjoy your birthday celebrations!! :)
I’ll take a slice of the berry crisp please!!
I love white sangria, in fact probably more than red. It’s definitely more light, fresh and springy, and I think your addition of mango is awesome!
The deck looks amazing, especially the neat diagonal part. It makes it look so professional :)