citrus sangria

Everyone always talks about going out for drinks on Thursday and Friday as the week is coming to an end.  But I say, what about drinks on Monday?

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

It seems like the exact perfect day for a drink.

Something to look forward to at the start of the week.  Something with a little zing.  Something to get you through the last weeks of winter, or the start of winter if you live in Colorado. 

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

This drink is light and refreshing with a definite burst of juicy citrus flavor.  Sure to brighten the Monday blues.

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

And the best part?

Eating the fruit cocktail at the bottom of your glass.

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

Print this!

Citrus Sangria

yields 2-4 servings

adapted from: Jessica’s Blood Orange Sangria

  • 1 bottle chardonnay
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 3 blood oranges
  • 1 cara-cara orange, or other orange
  • 1/2 ruby red grapefruit
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 1 small apple
  • 1 small pear
  • sparkling water
  1. Pour the wine and brandy in a large pitcher.
  2. Juice 2 blood oranges, 1/2 grapefruit, and 1/2 lemon.  Juicing by hand works perfectly.
  3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove pulp and seeds, then pour into the pitcher.  Stir.
  4. Core and chop the apple and pear and place the pieces into the pitcher.
  5. Slice the remaining 2 oranges into halved segments and/or round slices and add to the pitcher.
  6. Stir and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Best if chilled for 4 hours before serving to allow flavors to fully develop.
  7. Pour each glass, add some of the fruit, and a good splash of sparkling water [about 2-3 tablespoons per serving, for 4 servings].

notes/subs: Recipe is easily doubled.  For a sweeter drink add 1/4 cup sparkling citrus juice in step 1, and reduce the splash of sparkling water by half.

Check Jessica’s recipe for a fun idea for rimming the glasses with sugar!

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

Can’t transport a pitcher of sangria to a friend’s house?

No problem.  Make the sangria ahead of time and pour into 12oz jars with a lid for each guest!

citrus sangria // edible perspective
citrus sangria // edible perspective

Hello, Monday.

You don’t look so bad after all.

Ashley

blood orange + chocolate frosted doughnuts

TWO Valentine’s Day recipes and it’s not even February yet.

Who am I?

Ohhh how nice it is to plan ahead.  But don’t get too excited.  I completely forgot about the super bowl this weekend and have no recipes lined up.  However, I don’t think anyone would be upset to see the following recipe at their super bowl get together.

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The star of the show, was once again blood oranges.  I was hoping they would turn the actual doughnut pink, but no such luck.  Maybe using all blood orange juice, instead of using both OJ + milk would have worked.  I’ll have to try next time.

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With a good squeeze of juice and a little bit of zest, the flavor was spot on. 

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While the doughnut may not have been pink, I drizzled pink icing overtop to give them a little more Valentine's Day spirit.

No red food dye here!

Perfectly pink with a little extra pop of orange flavor.

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These would make an excellent breakfast or dessert.  Possibly served with OJ or better yet, mimosas.  Too bad we were out of champagne for this shoot.  What a good excuse to gulp down a little bubbly at 1 o’clock in the afternoon!

I never expected this recipe to rival the molasses, cinnamon sugar, and apple cider doughnuts [my favorites].  They’re right up there though!  Don’t make me pick a favorite.  I now have four.

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And you know what else?

They’re vegan!  Perfect if you don’t eat eggs, or are out of eggs like I was.  You’ll just need a little flax to throw in the mix.  Freshly ground flax seeds work the best.  No need to worry about mixing a flax “egg,” because it gets tossed right in with the dry ingredients.

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Cakier + doughnuttier than you’d expect.

Especially for being gluten free, vegan, and baked! 

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Blood Orange + Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts 

vegan, gluten-free // yields 6-8 doughnuts

  • 1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour
  • 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
  • 3 Tablespoons almond meal
  • 3 Tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 1/3 cup sucanat
  • 1.5 Tablespoons ground flax meal
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
  • 6 Tablespoons blood orange juice
  • 1 Tablespoon blood orange zest
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1.5 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  1. Preheat your oven to 350* + grease your donut pan.
  2. In a medium sized bowl mix together the oat flour, sweet rice flour, almond meal, flax meal, sucanat, salt, baking powder + baking soda.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together blood orange juice, milk, vanilla, oil, zest + applesauce.
  4. Stir wet into dry, until combined.  Do not over stir.  It will look slightly lumpy and should be thick.
  5. With a spoon, spatula, or piping bag, transfer the batter to your greased pan, until almost flush with the top of the pan.
  6. Bake for 24-28min.
  7. Test with a toothpick for doneness.  You want a slightly moist toothpick.  Not gooey but not bone dry.  The tops of the donut should be golden brown and it will spring back when you press it lightly.
  8. Let them cool in the pan for 5min then turn out onto a cooling rack.
  9. Add frosting when cooled.

tips/substitutions: If you have leftover batter with a 6-mold pan, your molds might be a smaller than mine, so they might bake slightly faster.  For high altitude – oven 375*, 3/4t baking powder.  You can grind oat flour from certified gluten free oat groats, steel cut oats, or rolled oats.  Grind in a blender or magic bullet until soft and flour-like.  Sub 2 eggs instead of ground flax, and lower almond milk to 2T if you don’t need/want them to be vegan.  If you can’t find blood orange, just sub any unsweetened orange juice.  To make almond meal, grind almonds in a food processor/blender/magic bullet until soft and mealy with not pieces of almond.

Chocolate Frosting

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1.5-2.5 Tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
  1. Stir everything together until smooth.  If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar.  If it’s too thick, add 1t more of milk at a time.
  2. Let sit for 5min to thicken.

*Make your own powdered sugar or sucanat.

Blood Orange Drizzle

  • 1/2c powdered sugar
  • 1T blood orange juice
  1. Combine until smooth. 
  2. Scoop into a sealable plastic baggie, squeeze the air out + close.
  3. Work the icing down to one corner of the bag and cut a tiny off the corner.
  4. Gently drizzle the icing onto the doughnuts.
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Your sweetie is guaranteed to lick their plate clean. 

And so are you.

Now shouldn’t you be writing a shopping list for things like spicy nacho cheeze sauce, curry honey hummus, sweet potato black bean burgers, beer soaked fries, smoked black bean dip, cocoa chili, pumpkin spice hummus, southwestern soup, or buckwheat + millet pizza, instead of thinking about doughnuts?

I’m on the fence, but I think I’ll take doughnuts over dip.

Ashley