Drink of the Month: Tropical Red Sangria

I love Sangria!  Not the nasty stuff you find in a plastic bottled labeled, "Sangria," but real hand-made Sangria prepared with a good bottle of wine.  

White Sangria has always been my Sangria of choice.  I like Red Sangria, but I always found it to have a weird flavor that I just wasn't a fan of.  I finally realized what the flavor was, it's Brandy.  It seems like most Red Wine Sangrias call for Brandy, and I do not like the stuff.  So I set-out to make one that didn't involve Brandy.
  
It took a couple years, and a few failed attempts that went down the drain, but I finally concocted the perfect Red Wine Sangria for me.  

Most Sangrias are comprised of four main ingredients: wine, liquor, sugar, and fruit.  
*Wine is the easy one, I prefer a dry-spanish wine in Sangria, but most any red wine will work.  
*For the liquor component I used spiced rum instead of brandy.  
*The sugar was no sugar at all, it was Simply Tropical by Simply.
*The fruit was slices of orange and lime (because it's what I had on hand at the time).

Finally, a Red Sangria that I can drink all Summer long.  

Woodland 'Onederland' Camping Birthday Party

I am pretty sure I was pregnant just yesterday, but somehow my perfect little boy just turned one.  All the sayings are true, you blink and time has passed you by.  It wasn't a sad moment for me though, it was a happy one.  Seeing how much my baby has changed and grown over the past year has been so much fun, and I can't wait to see how else he astonishes and amazes me in this coming year.  

Of course being the party planner that I am, I went crazy planning his first birthday bash.  It wasn't about him remembering the day (we all know he won't), it was about giving me the satisfaction of knowing I did what I could to make the day special; and for theme to really shine through.   Plus, I had a lot of fun with it.  I could go into so much detail about everything I did and how I did it, but i might bore some readers.  If you have a question, ask it, and I will answer.  

THE THEME

It started out as a Lumberjack party, but that seemed to not fit a May birthday; with the flannel and all.  Then it changed into a Teepee party (since one of his gifts was a teepee from his mommy and daddy), but I felt like it needed to be more centered towards boy.  His nursery is Woodland themed, so a Lumberjack-Teepee party morphed into Woodland Camping!  It was perfect. 

The backyard was scattered with hand-painted wood signs and arrows.  We had blue and teal streamers were swinging in the trees, with camping signs all around.  A "fire" was started to roast some melty marshmallows.  And a wall of pallets greeted you as you entered the party.  

We set-up our camping tent full of balloons for the kiddos to play in, had a 'ball and can' toss game, and a coloring station for younger ones.  The theme was very obvious to say the least.  

THE SMASH CAKE

Yes, I am one of those moms that doesn't want to feed their kid a sugar-filled cake on their birthday.  That doesn't mean I won't let my boy have a sweet thing every once in a while, but I didn't feel that it was necessary for his cake to be that way.  

After searching through dozens of recipes, I finally found one where I was mostly happy with the ingredients, so I took the recipe and changed it to my liking.  A simple mixture of flour, baking soda, salt, egg, and coconut oil.  To add the flavor; a bit of vanilla extract, pineapple pieces, banana, and cinnamon.  Then for the icing: creme cheese whipped with 100% pineapple juice.  The cake was actually quite yummy for no sugar-added.  It took my little guy a few minutes to warm-up to it (probably because it was being stored int he fridge so it wouldn't melt in the heat), but once he started to pick it apart it kept him occupied for about twenty minutes.  

THE BIRTHDAY BOY

I knew I wanted pictures of baby T scattered around the party to show how much he has grown and changed over the past year, so I decided to do "A Year of Tucker" from Day 1 to Day 365.  I printed all the pictures in 4x4, attached them to string with clips (so I didn't ruin them), and strung them across a pallet.  

I also put together a board of all of his monthly sticker pictures.  Ah, a bittersweet image to see.

THE FOOD & DRINKS 

You can't go camping without beer, and luckily we knew exactly where to get a keg of Mr. Green Pale Ale.  I personally like to 'camp' with sangria though; a giant mason jar full of Sparkling White Berry Sangria.  

We had your typical camping food: Smoked Hot Dogs, macaroni salad, and beans.  We also had some snacks to appeal to all age groups: twigs, campfire flames, fish bait, bear poop, etc.  Then we topped it all off with S'mores Cupcakes. 

THE ATTIRE

This one was easy for me: jean shorts, HAPPY CAMPER t-shirt, and Chaco's.  The hubby wore a camping themed shirt as well.  Baby T had three different Camping/Woodland themed outfits for the day and pretty much ruined all of them.  :) 

THE GOODY-BAGS

So the party guests would, "Take a Hike," I made S'Mores trail mix.  It was a delicious combination of Teddy Graham's, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips.  It was hard not to eat it all while stuffing the bags.  (Note: The cereal and Teddy Graham's went stale really quick, so stuff the bags the day of the party and encourage guests to eat it that day as well).  

Overall my baby boy had such a fun day and so did we.  Hmmm, is it too soon to start planning birthday #2?  I don't want him to be two yet, I just want to plan another party.  

Drink of the Week #1: Strawberry Grapefruit Sangria

Welcome to the first post in the Drink of the Week, the weekly blog series where I feature a tasty beverage to wet your whistle.  

As warm weather and sunshine sneaks into summer, I find myself sitting on a patio more and more often.  Whether it's a Friday evening at dinner with friends, the drive-in movie theater, or just our backyard, sitting outdoors calls my name.  Here in Texas we have a limited window when the weather is warm enough to sit outside without being too hot.  

I don't know about you, but when it's hot outside the last thing I want to consume is something that makes me feel yuck.  Beer sounds refreshing, but often makes me feel bloated.  Wine doesn't bloat, but it does make me want to fall asleep in the warm heat of the sun.  Also, a boozy cocktail is boozier than I want to sip on.  Therefore my go to outdoorsy beverage is Sangria. 

My favorite Sangria is any made with Sauvignon Blanc.  For a relaxing poolside ribs BBQ I went with the citrus notes of Grapefruit, Strawberry, and Lemon.  Crisp and refreshing, the perfect patio sipper.  

What is your favorite summer patio beverage?