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Thanksgiving Mimosa

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I recently had  a few people over to make Christmas cards.  It’s actually a tradition for us to get together on Veteran’s Day.  (More on making cards in my 25 Days of Christmas Activities. Coming Soon!) It might seem a little early, but some Christmas music and a festive harvest-style mimosa sure got us in the spirit.  We even had a turkey dinner when we were done.  Thanksgiving Mimosa is an apple cider-cranberry drink.  And, it is perfect for any brunch once the autumn cider and cranberry season hits.  Which, around here starts in late September and goes until Christmas.

Note:  This post contains affiliate links. When you click the link and make a purchase through the link, we make a little money, this helps to keep The Semiconservative Granola Girl going. Thank you for your support.

Thanksgiving Mimosa | Cranberry juice, cider and sparkling wine perfect for Thanksgiving guests no matter the time of day

Thanksgiving Mimosa

If you have guests for spending the night for Thanksgiving or you just feel the need to start the party early.   A special Thanksgiving Mimosa seems the way to go.

This is an easy pitcher drink.  Just some cider, some cranberry juice, a bottle of sparkling dry white wine and some cranberries for garnish.  Use 100% juice cranberry juice, not cranberry juice cocktail.

Thanksgiving Mimosa | Cranberry juice, cider and sparkling wine perfect for Thanksgiving guests no matter the time of day

I measured out the cranberry juice and apple cider.  Poured them into beautiful cut glass pitcher from my grandmother and then poured the bottle of sparkling wine over it.  It mixes itself as the sparkling wine hits the other juices.

Then garnish with some fresh cranberries and serve.  The key is to chill all of the ingredients ahead time because you don’t want to serve warm mimosas!

Mimosas are Not Just For Brunch Anymore

Thanksgiving Mimosa | Cranberry juice, cider and sparkling wine perfect for Thanksgiving guests no matter the time of day

These Thanksgiving Mimosas don’t seem that breakfast-y either so feel free to serve them up all day long.  They would be perfect with turkey dinner or with appetizers.  And these would be the perfect thing to drink as you are working on your Six Thanksgiving Jobs to Do Before Your Guest Arrive.  So let us know what you think and how your guests enjoy these festive little Thanksgiving Mimosas.

PS. This post contains affiliate links. When you click the link and make a purchase through the link, we make a little money, this helps to keep The Semiconservative Granola Girl going. Thank you for your support.

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Print Recipe
 Thanksgiving Mimosa
Course Adult Beverages
Servings
champange glasses
Ingredients
Course Adult Beverages
Servings
champange glasses
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Measure and mix the cranberry juice and apple cider into a pitcher. Pour sparkling wine into the pitcher. Garnish with fresh cranberries.
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Citrus Red Sangria

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Citrus Red Sangria

Too Many Lemons

Sangria is such a great summer drink. And it is really easy to make. I first tried sangria on a high school trip to Spain. (The drinking laws are different in Spain and we were permitted to have A single glass with a meal if our parents had signed permission.) Even then, I loved the citrusy red wine flavor. A few weeks ago, I experimented with a Summer White Wine Sangria. This week, I had an abundance of lemons left over from the Lemon Jelly.  What’s a Semiconservative Granola Girl to do when she has too many lemons?  Make lemonade?  No, silly.  She makes Citrus Red Sangria with lots of lemons, limes and oranges.

citrus red sagria fruit

Citrus Red Sangria

For me, sangria always starts with a simple syrup. This recipe makes a big batch, so it calls for a full cup of citrus simple syrup: slices of lemon, lime and orange with sugar and water. In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, water, slices from a whole lemon and lime and half an orange. Bring to a boil and then let cook for 3-5 minutes to really allow the the essence of the citrus to get into the syrup.

citrus red sangria fuit slices

Let the syrup cool for about 10 minutes. Then, in a 3 quart pitcher, add the syrup with the cooked citrus, a 3 liter bottle of cheap wine. I used Lake Country Red Table Wine (only $9.99 at our local liquor store). We live in the Finger Lakes, and it is important to me to use wine from local wineries. It you live in a wine country, I hope you will do the same. Top with the rest of the fruit.

Chill and enjoy Citrus Red Sangria with ice and a little club soda, if desired. Of course, this is something that gets better with time, but not too much time.  We found that the second day was perfect.  By the third or forth day, the sangria started to pick up some of the bitterness of the citrus pith (the white part between the peel and the fruit).  If you plan to keep it longer than three days, remove the citrus fruit and it should be fine.

PS. This post may contain affiliate links. When you click the link and make a purchase through the link, we make a little money, this helps to keep The Semiconservative Granola Girl going. Thank you for your support.

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Print Recipe


Citrus Red Sangria

Course Adult Beverages

Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 3+ hours

Servings
Quarts


Ingredients

Course Adult Beverages

Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 3+ hours

Servings
Quarts


Ingredients


Instructions
  1. Slice the fruit by cutting just a sliver from each end and then slice into ¼ inch wheels.

  2. In a small sauce pan, add water, sugar, the slices from 1 lemon, 1 lime and half an orange. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes.

  3. Let the citrus syrup cool for 10-30 minutes.

  4. In a 3 quarter pitcher, add the syrup with cooked fruit, wine and additional fruit slices.

  5. Chill for 3 hours-overnight. Serve with ice and club soda if desired.


Recipe Notes

This was best the second day.  The fruits had melded perfectly with the simple syrup and the wine.  By the forth day, it had become a little bitter from the pith of the citrus.  If you plan to keep it longer than 3 days, removed the fruit.


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Summer Sangria

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I had my first glass of sangria when I traveled to Spain as a high school student. (At the time, probably still, Spain had no drinking age and as long as our parents signed permission, we were allowed one drink at meal time.)  It was a red sangria and fruity and yummy.  Fast forward 25 years:  I am flipping through an all purpose cookbook and see a recipe for sangria.  The recipe was super easy, just fruit, simple syrup, wine and club soda.  And the love affair begins.  Enter experimentation; enter Summer Sangria.

Summer Entertaining

Summer Sangria

Summer is a season of entertaining and Summer Sangria is a super easy recipe to wow your guests.  A light, fruity white sangria just seems so summery, too.  Choose a cheap wine since you will be adding simple syrup and fruit, it is unnecessary to invest in a “good wine.”  Then, it becomes all about the presentation–a wine glass with fruit floating in in it and all your guests will be pulling out their phones to take pictures.

I often drink wine while we are at our Adirondack cabin.  Usually, when we have wine at the cabin, we reach for our redneck wine glasses, but we pulled out the real wine glasses to enjoy the batch of Summer Sangria that I made for the recent holiday weekend.

Simple Syrup

fruited simple syrup

The word syrup makes it sound complicated, but simple syrup is just sugar and water brought to a boil to melt the sugar.  When I make sangria, I add fruit right to the sugar and water to infuse the flavor into it.  Because I wanted to get the flavor of strawberry and citrus, I added the ends of a lemon and a lime and two whole strawberries.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Let it cool.  Remove the cooked fruit after it has cooled.

Summer Sangria

Summer Sangria

Add the cooled simple syrup to slices of lemon, lime, more strawberries and blackberries.  Pour a 3 liter bottle of wine over that and chill until you are ready to server it.  I used Taylor Lake Country Table White.  (It’s a decent wine and it is only $9.99 for three liters at our local liquor store!) We live in the Finger Lakes, so I generally make it a practice to use local wines.  If you have wineries that are local to your area, you should use them.  Keep it local!

The longer you chill it, the more time your flavors will have to meld.  We drank this over the course of several days and the last day was definitely the best!  Be sure to plan ahead for this recipe!

This is a great drink to server with Venison Pepper Steak.  The sweet with the gentle spice of the steak is super.  We also served it up with Texas Caviar as an appetizer.

PS. This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through this link, we receive a small payment. We would really appreciate it if you use the links on this page. It helps us to keep our website up and running!

Print Recipe
 Summer Sangria
Course Adult Beverages
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Passive Time 4+ hours
Servings
Quarts
Ingredients
Course Adult Beverages
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Passive Time 4+ hours
Servings
Quarts
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Prepare the fruit by washing and slicing the lemon and lime. Do not discard the ends. Wash and hull the strawberries. Quarter the large ones (but leave at least two whole for the simple syrup). Wash and pick through the blackberries.
  2. Add the ends of the lemon and lime along with two big strawberries to a small sauce pan. Add sugar and water. Bring to a boil and let cook for a couple of minutes.
  3. Remove from heat and let it cool.
  4. Add the rest of the lemon and lime slices, strawberries, blackberries and cooled simple syrup to a pitcher. Pour wine over it and chill.
  5. To serve, add some ice and a couple of pieces of fruit to each wine glass and then pour the sangria over it.
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