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Sangria Granita

Sangria Granita

I know it feels like Summer is almost over because the kids are going back to school and all, but we still have a whole month left! Come on guys, don’t give up on Summer yet. 

Actually, I am ready for Summer to be over, who am I kidding….

I digress. One of my favorite things I made all Summer was this Rose sangria. It was scrum-didily-umptious! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I couldn’t polish off a whole batch myself, so I had a ton left over. The great thing about sangria is that it keeps pretty well. For the sangria that was left, I strained out the fruit and put it back in a clean wine bottle (this is where twist tops come in handy). I could have just had a glass of sangria every night for the rest of the week, but I decided to do something a bit more fun with it. 

Make granita!

I used to make granitas all the time back in the day. Not only are they easy, but they can be pretty healthy. Take whatever liquid you like, freeze it, fork it, BOOM you have yourself some granita. 

And that is exactly what I did with the leftover sangria. I poured it in a shallow dish, then placed it in the freezer. Every couple hours, I scraped a fork over the surface to create tiny little sangria ice crystals. I repeated that step a couple times until the whole thing was frozen. By the end, what I had was akin to a wine shaved-ice. Yum, right?

Sangria Granita

This sangria granita made such a great little dessert at night. It was almost like having a glass of wine after dinner, but better!

Sangria Granita

So don’t give up on Summer just yet. Try making this sangria granita while it’s still hot outside. I promise, it’s probably the next best way to enjoy wine on these hot Summer days after an actual glass of fresh sangria, of course. 

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Sangria Granita

Ingredients

    Sangria:
  • 1 bottles of your favorite wine
  • 2 cups fruit, sliced
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 2 tbsp cup simple syrup
  • 2 oz cup Gran Marnier (optional)
    • Garnish:
  • Fruit

Instructions

  1. In a large pitcher, mix together wine, fruit, juice, simple syrup, and Gran Marnier. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  2. The next day, strain out fruit from sangria. Pour sangria into a shallow dish, cover, then place in the freezer.
  3. Every 2 hours, scrape the surface of the sangria with a fork. When the sangria is completely frozen, scrape the surface one more time, then freeze for another 30 minutes or more.
  4. Spoon into individual cups or wine glasses, add fruit on top, enjoy!
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Homemade Acai Bowl

Acai-Bowl-15title

Have you guys had an acai (a-si-ee) bowl before? They are all the rage in California, I’m told. I was pretty late to the game on this food trend, having my first acai bowl just a couple months ago. We have one (ONE!) place you can get an acai bowl here in Charlotte and I don’t even think you can call it a food truck. It’s more of a food trailer? Food cart? Well that is where I had more first acai bowl and it was just okay. For $10 I expected it to be amazing. It wasn’t. 

Acai Bowl-18

Then I was back in my hometown, San Diego, late last year and finally had a proper acai bowl. And it lived up to it’s outrageous price. Yes, it is a glorified fruit bowl, but it’s delicious, filling, and oh so good for you. 

So since I can’t get a decent acai bowl around here, I decided to figure out a way to make my own at home. It’s actually quite easy if you can get your hands on some acai puree. 

Acai Bowl-1

What you need to make your own acai bowl is this little packet of goodness – Sambozon Acai Berry pack. You can find this in the freezer section of your local Whole Foods, health food store, or Amazon (in bulk). I prefer the unsweetened packs, but they also sell sweetened packs, too. 

This next part is as easy as making a smoothie. I ran the packet under some warm water for a few seconds, then broke the frozen block of acai up into smaller pieces and dumped that into a blender. I added some almond milk and honey, then blended it until it formed a thick puree. Something about the same consistency as frozen yogurt.

From here, you can make it your own. I personally like to add a little almond butter, lots of fruit, and a touch of granola. If I don’t have fresh fruit, then I will toss on some frozen berries and banana slices. Chia pudding would also be good on an acai bowl. 

Acai Bowl-17

The best part about these acai bowls is that they are a part of any healthy and nutritious breakfast, but can also be a light lunch, post-workout snack, or dessert! 

I hope you give these a try! Or let me know what your favorite acai bowl toppings are!

Homemade Acai Bowl
Serves 1
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Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 Sambazon Acai Berry frozen packet
  2. 1/4 cup almond milk
  3. 1 tbsp honey (or sweetener of choice)
  4. 1 tbsp almond butter
  5. 1 tbsp granola
  6. 1/2 banana, sliced
  7. kiwi, sliced
  8. strawberries, sliced
  9. blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries
Instructions
  1. To a blender, add the acai packet, almond milk, and honey. Blend until smooth and the consistency of frozen yogurt. Pour into a bowl
  2. Top the blended acai with almond butter, banana, kiwi, berries, and granola.
Notes
  1. Other toppings that would be delicious are chia pudding, nutella, peanut butter, mango, pineapple, coconut shavings, nuts, and chocolate chips.
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Summer Sangria

Summer-SangriaSangria is one of my husband’s and my favorite drinks to make during the Summer months when we are either hosting or attending a party. It can be as simple or as complicated as we’d like and very easily scalable to however many people we are making it for.

Summer-Sangria1For this batch of sangria, we chose to use lots of fresh Summer stone fruit, like peaches, plums, and cherries. Peaches are wonderful in sangria because the really give off a lot of flavor, making the finished product sweet, yet still a bit tart from the wine.

To make this drink even more Summery, we added watermelon ice cubes. We stole this idea from a bar in Raleigh we visited a couple weekends ago, but I will probably be adding watermelon ice cubes to all my drinks for the rest of the Summer. It’s genius! And they are super easy to make: 1) cut up some watermelon into cubes; 2) freeze.

Summer-Sangria2There is no real rhyme or reason to chopping up fruit for sangria. I like to leave the pieces relatively large so they don’t get too mushy sitting in wine for a couple days, but not so large that you can’t fish a piece of fruit out of your glass and eat it, in all its drunken glory.

And for the wine…well, again, there are no standards (at least none that I am aware of). I prefer to use wines that are a little bit sweet and fruity already. But not too sweet. I stay away from Chardonnays and Rieslings. Somewhere in the middle, like a Savignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. For this batch, we used a Spanish wine (I can’t think of the grape variety for the life of me), which seemed pretty appropriate.

We also like to throw in a splash of whiskey, like Crown Royal (or the Kirkland equivalent, as in our case). Partly because we like the added flavor, and partly because my husband will only drink a fruity drink if there is whiskey in it.

Summer-Sangria5We let our sangria sit for at least two days. My husband wanted me to emphasize TWO days (he literally walked in as I was typing and said, “please put on your recipe that we let ours sit for at least two days”). You definitely could make this the night before and serve it the next day. However, you won’t be doing your sangria any favors. All the flavors from the fruit will not be as fragrant. After two days, the fruit has gotten a chance to break down and release its juices and the bite from the wine is a bit less noticeable.

Summer-Sangria6I think sangria is just the perfect drink for the Summer. The Spanish really knew what they were doing when they came up with this idea. It is just so refreshing and flavorful. However, I can sometimes forget that I am drinking wine…which can be a problem. So pace yourself! One batch can last you a while. If you don’t think you can finish it off after about four days, strain out the fruit and store the rest in the fridge. You can add back in fresh fruit when you are ready to serve again.

What is your favorite Summer drink?

Summer Sangria
Serves 8
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Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
48 hr
Total Time
48 hr 30 min
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
48 hr
Total Time
48 hr 30 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 bottles of your favorite white wine
  2. 2 shots whiskey
  3. 4 peaches, sliced
  4. 4 plums, sliced
  5. 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
  6. 1/2 medium watermelon
Instructions
  1. In a large pitcher combine the peaches, plums, cherries, wine, and whiskey. Stir and muddle the fruit slightly. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 24-48 hours.
  2. Meanwhile, cut 1-2" slices from the watermelon and remove the rind. Cut the slice lengthwise into 1-2" strips, then crosswise to for cubes. Store in a single layer in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer for at least 4 hours, or until frozen.
  3. To assemble, place 1 to 2 watermelon ice cubes in a cup. Fill the glass up with sangria. Using a slotted spoon, spoon in extra fruit.
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Juiced

Things might have gotten a little out of hand last week. There was a lot of wine, a lot of sweets, a lot of bacon fat. I don’t regret any of it, but my it kind of takes a toll on my body now that I am old.

I felt like I needed to do something good for myself, so I decided that this week I would cut out all processed foods and increase my intake of fruits and vegetables. So I broke out the juicer and got my juice on.

Honestly, juicing is kind of a pain. It takes a lot of time to prepare and buying all the fruit and veggies gets kind of expensive. But it is so worth it! I feel so refreshed and energized. I haven’t had any caffeine all day and I never felt drowsy. To make it a little easier, I washed and prepped all my fruits and veggies on Sunday, so during the week I can just pop them in the juicer.

If you have a juicer, I hope I will inspire you to break it out and get juicing. To get you started, here are some of my favorite recipes.

Sunrise juice, so named because it is my favorite juice to have in the morning, is incredibly refreshing and energizing. Plus, it is amazing for the skin.

Ingredients
3 carrots, washed and end removed
1 orange, peeled and quartered
1 lemon, peeled and halved
1/2 grapefruit, peeled and quartered
2 apples, cored and quartered

Directions: throw everything into the juicer.

Beets might not sound like the most appetizing vegetable, but they pack a pretty mean nutritional punch. When combined with other sweeter and stronger flavored fruits and vegetables, you won’t even realize you are drinking beet juice.

Ingredients
1 beet, peeled and quartered
1 orange, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, washed and end removed
2 apples, cored and quartered
5-8 strawberries, tops removed

Directions: throw everything into the juicer.

This green juice is like a salad in a glass. Unlike other green juices I have had, this one is actually pretty tasty. The lemon and melon balance out the bitter kale to make a very refreshing and delicious drink.

Ingredients
1 handful spinach, washed
1 handful kale, washed
1/2 cucumber, quartered
2 stalks celery, washed
1 lemon, peeled and halved
2 apples, cored and quartered
1/2 cup honeydew melon, rind removed and cut into chunks

Directions: throw everything into the juicer.

I hope you try these recipes out. Also, if you have some favorite juice recipes I would love it if you would share them!

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