"Sangria" with Fresca

So, I had an itch for sangria. Don't know why, doesn't really matter. I just wanted to make some sangria.

So I pulled a few recipes from Pinterest, like you do, and went to the store to get ingredients.

The first recipe called for brandy, so that wasn't happening because brandy was not in the budget. The next recipe called for  beverages I didn't know existed, but the writer really liked the Target brand, Archer Farms. So I went shopping at Target.

And after scouring two aisles and asking an employee, said juices were no where to be found. Maybe come October. He said he remembered the blood orange soda around Halloween. But then again, my Target just had a major remodel, so who knows what they'll carry.

So I went on to the next recipe. Super easy. White wine, Fresca and fruit (fresh or frozen). I'd give you a link to the recipe, but my pin doesn't seem to have a link to the recipe. The only amounts you need to know are 1 bottle of wine, 3 cans of Fresca, and as much fruit as you want.

Although I have no doubt my friends and I could drink that much in a night, it seemed a little excessive for a Friday.

I had a bottle of moscato in the car, so I could skip the wine. I actually bought the moscato months ago for the express purpose of making sangria. There was a rebate involved. I know moscator is sweet, so I figured it would do well. I don't actually like moscato, so it's not like I'll drink it when it's not mized in something.

So I needed Fresca. Now, I love Fresca. If you've never had it, I suggest trying it. It's a Coke product. It's a grapefruit-flavored pop, but it's not sour like grapefruits actually are. It's bascially just a slightly tarter (more tart?) lemon-lime soda. **It only comes in diet.** They don't even bother to attempt to make this with actual sugar. This works out really well for me because I only drink diet. This works out well for any non-diet drinkers because there is no "regular" for them to compare it to!

Fresca accomplished.

Next, fruit.

I wasn't sure if I wanted fresh or frozen, so I went through the fresh area first. Yes, my Target now has fresh fruit. I wanted some berries, so I checked the price.

Then I went to the frozen fruit section to do a comparison.

Now, I don't remember what the actual price comparison was, because as soon as I found a small bag of assorted frozen fruit, I went for it. My Fresca was warm, my wine was warm...I figured the frozen fruit would act like ice cubes! So that's what I did.

I took it all to my friend's house, made it up, and poured myself a glass.

Pretty!

It wasn't bad. It certainly wasn't the best sangria I had ever had, but it was completely passable. Next time around, I won't use moscato, and might change the proportions. There ought to be more wine to the pop.

Carmel Apple Dip

When I make things for my friends to try, I do try to offer a variety. And something sweet.

Sometimes that something sweet is dessert. Sometimes it's an alcoholic beverage. Sometimes it's fruit.

This time, it was fruit. With a dip. Because I can't blog about just fruit. That would be boring.

So with this meal, I decided to make spiced caramel apple dip. I had some apples. All I needed was the cream cheese.

And since I was making another dish that required me to go buy cream cheese, this wasn't a problem.

So I mixed everything up as the directions specified. I thought the brown sugar left the texture a little gritty, but oh well. Mine was also much darker for some reason.

We all like this, although it made too much for one night/so few people.