Super Summer Sangria

So I decided to add a “Recipes” tab to my blog.  I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.

I love to do it, but I hate that I get home at 7pm at night and do not really have a whole lotta time to get it done.  I do try and cook as much as possible on the weekends and I love packaging up the leftovers to freeze for quick and easy meals during the week.

I will try and fill the “Recipes” tab with recipes I think you would find interesting.  If there are any recipes you want to share, please email them to me!  I am always looking for new ideas.

So for my first recipe, I concocted a delicious & refreshing White Sangria!  About a week ago, I opened a bottle of white wine and didn’t really like it.  Being a true boozer there was no way I was going to dump a whole bottle of wine down the kitchen sink.  Instead, I thought I would be able to make Sangria from it.  I looked online for possible recipes…

Most had other liquors added to the wine – I just wanted a light, refreshing drink.

Some called for a CUP of sugar – this is in addition to all the sugars already in wine, no thanks.

Others recommended a whole liter of club soda – that sounds like a lot of belly filler and I just want my belly full of the wine and fruit!

Here's what I came up with:

Pour one bottle of white wine into a pitcher (I think sauvignon blanc works the best, but it is really up to your personal tastes)

½ of one orange – squeeze the juice into the pitcher, then slice up the orange and add to pitcher

½ of one lime – squeeze the juice into the pitcher, then slice up the lime and add to pitcher

Almost ¼ cup of honey – I read here that in most recipes you can substitute sugar with half the amount of honey.  Cool fact, no?

2 cups of Club Soda

Stir it up and serve in glasses with ice.

I didn’t add ice to the pitcher of sangria because I didn’t want to water down the taste.  In fact, the next day it tasted even better once the fruit and the juices had the chance to soak in even more.

Oh, and look what came in the mail today...

Man, I sure wish I had a glass of my sangria to enjoy as I read up on Harry & Pippa.

On this Summer Solstice Eve, I hope it is a great night!!

Birthday Week Rolls On

What?  You think birthdays are only one day?!  Haha, birthday rookies.

Sure you are only queen/king of the day on your actual birth date, but your birthday should be celebrated for at least the following 5 to 7 days. 

That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Here’s my birthday week so far… Saturday, I was able to go see the musical “Wicked” in Ft. Lauderdale.  Absolute favorite musical ever. 

Have you seen this show?
You really should.

I saw it five years ago on Broadway and absolutely fell in love with the story.  It is the “Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”, based on the book by Gregory Maguire.  In summary, it gives you the backstory on why the Wicked Witch of the West became “wicked”.  It also explains how the components of the “The Wizard of Oz” came to be.  They explain the jeweled shoes, Glinda, the Wicked Witch of the East, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow and even what started the famous tornado that took Dorothy from Kansas to the Land of Oz.

Such creativity… it is fantastic, excellent, amazing and every other superlative you can think of.  It has become quite a sensation and the audience was really into the show, so fun!  Lots of cheers, applause and of course, women in their witches hats!

On my actual birthday I got lots of love and attention from friends and family – thank you, I loved it all!  I received some great birthday cards this year

Lobsters rule, a Lily original & the pink card
kills me... I can twirl my hair like no other!

On Monday, my co-worker took me out for a yummy birthday lunch!  When I got home that night, my camera was in the mail – yippee!  I also received the books I ordered from Runner’s World.  I am really excited to put the FIRST method into practice preparing for my half marathons this fall, as well as the Disney Marathon in January. 

Wednesday was cake and singing day in the office (cue the embarrassed look).  I am not sure why this came so late, or really at all, because my boss had taken me to lunch last week for my bday.  Regardless, the dolce de leche cake was delicious… as my co-worker Yolanda put it “we do not do ordinary” :)

On my way home last night, I got a call from my friend Eileen who had two tickets to a wine tasting that night and did I want to go, um yes please!  We had some a lot of yummy wine and split a delicious burger.  At first the restaurant gave the burger to someone else (what?!), so they had to order a second one and then they charged us for two burgers…  when we pointed this out to the waiter, they ended up giving us our burger for free, thank you!  Then when we left, the parking garage attendant had left for the night, so no need to pay the $16 parking fee.

I love free things.  

Feeling a bit dehydrated today, I had the cafeteria "value meal" for lunch - grilled cheese with bacon and tomato soup... if bacon sandwiches are an appropriate hangover meal at Buck House (how the royals fondly refer to Buckingham Palace), then they are good enough for me.

One last birthday week event will be Brew at the Zoo on Saturday night.  Pretty much just as it sounds, a beer fest at the Miami Zoo… can’t wait! 

I really need to get to bed now because I have my alarm set for 3:45am to watch all of the Today Show coverage of the Royal Wedding tomorrow, so excited!  

Even the UK has a reason to celebrate during my birthday week this year :)

Wordless Wednesday, Dinner Edition

Sometimes it’s all about the…

Homemade pizza with pesto, avocado and
sauteed mushrooms, broccoli & grape tomatoes

and the…

Yummy glass of Cab!

 I feel ready to go on my 10 mile run tomorrow morning, cheers!