Sangria Is The Shiz!

This year my sister hosted Thanksgiving and I was in full blown Martha Stewart/Pinterest cooking mode by Wednesday night as I was bringing a few things.  I was excited mostly for my first try at Sangria.  Sangria is my friend, I've always loved the Sangria that everyone else makes and, well,  I love wine, so I think we can safely say this was going to be a win win for me.

I turned out amazing and I did tweak the recipe a bit, by doing the following:
1. I made my own Simple Syrup because duh, why pay when I'm pretty sure you have water and sugar in your house to make it yourself

2. I added a whole nother bottle of vino and a shot (and a half) of KetelOne Citroen.  You're welcome.  And no judgies about that either.

3. And yes, you need to use REAL Pomegranate juice (POM), not the cocktail or the cocktail mixed with cranberry that is cheating.  I too took a deep breath when I put an $11 dollar bottle of juice in my cart, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

4. I used Shiraz instead of Red Zinfandel.  Not a fan of Zinfandels.

5. I transferred to a punch bowl when I got to my sister's house.  It was a much better visual and it made access to the fruit that had been soaking in the Sangria for 12+ hours much easier.

Without further adieu, here is the recipe you've been asking for.  Good luck and enjoy!  It was very easy and I was able to do it all while home alone with my toddler.  I do have a fruit loving girl, so that helped. Applause please!  It will certainly be making a repeat appearance at Christmas this year.  Even my brother-in-law, who is all things Bud Select, drank some!  Go me!  Happy Monday!

Courtesy of www.deepsouthdish.com via Pinterest.

• 1 (750 ml) bottle of red zinfandel
• 4 cups of cranberry juice
• 2 cups of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
• 1 cup of orange juice
• 3/4 cup of simple syrup
• 1 apple, unpeeled, cored, quarter & sliced thin
• 1 orange, halved and sliced thin
• 1 lemon, halved and sliced thin
• 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds (tip if you've never done this before it's super messy and word to the wise, you can supposedly buy the seeds.  Did.not.know.that).
• San Pellegrino sparkling water

Instructions:

Combine all of the ingredients in an extra large storage container, taste and adjust (see this was my queue to add more vino and vodka) flavors to your liking (me likey!). Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Stir before serving and transfer to pitchers or pour by the glass. Use a pair of tongs to extract some of the fruit for each glass, add ice to each glass, and fill glasses, leaving about an inch of free space at the top.  Top each glass off with a splash of Pellegrino (highly recommend) and lightly stir.

Note:  The color of the Sangria comes primarily from the juices, so you can use either red or white.  Use any good wine that you prefer.  Other good choices include Cabernet Saubignon, Merlot, Rioja, Shiraz or Beaujolais.

And if the recipe isn't appealing enough, here are a few pictures of the finished product, before it went into the refrigerator for the night:

 Before I added another bottle of wine and the vodka.

And after...Mmmmmm...nuuummmmmyyyy!