I make this all the time when guests come over, and it is delicious!!  Easy “recipe” (with recipes in quotation marks because really, anything goes with sangria!)

I start with a bottle of Madria Sangria.  It’s relatively inexpensive, and very good!  I usually purchase it when it is on sale at Kroger (cheapest place I’ve seen it sold.)

You can add any fruit you have or like, but the most common ones I usually add are oranges, apples (love the crunch the apples give it,) lemons, and limes.  This past time I added cranberries to make it more seasonal and because an entire bag of cranberries was $1.  Usually, I choose whatever fruit is in season. 

To really let the wine soak in the flavors of the fruit, it is best to let it sit for a few hours, or even overnight.  However, I’ve served it directly after preparing it as well, and no one seems to complain!

To top it off, I add Sprite or 7-Up just before serving.  The soda can go flat quickly, so sometimes I don’t even add the soda to the mix, but rather, top off each individual drink when pouring.  You can make the sangria less potent by adding additional Sprite or 7-Up.

Some sangria recipes also call for brandy, but I usually find the drink is strong enough and tasty enough without the additional liquor.

Leftovers (if any) last for a few days, and get better with time!

This is a great, easy drink recipe for a party!

I don’t have a lot of time to cook.  I enjoy it, but because of the time thing, it’s sometimes hard to get around to making a home-cooked meal every night. 

The problem is magnified by the fact that now not only do I have to make something David and I will eat, but also something I feel good about giving my son.

That leaves very limited options! 

I made this chicken the other night and it was SO, SO easy, and also SO, SO delicious!  It was also a pretty economical meal (which is another criteria I try to meet when planning meals).

All I did was purchase a whole organic chicken.  I’m not huge on the organic thing, but I do try to purchase organic meat when I know Max is going to eat it.  I coated the chicken with olive oil (you can also use butter) and sprinkled a little salt and pepper on it.

I chopped up an onion, some potatoes, and whole carrots and also coated these with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some thyme.  I threw the whole pot in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

It was a hit—Max could not eat it fast enough, and David went up for seconds (that’s how I judge the quality of my meals.) 

The only thing you have to be very careful about is the bones.  I went through every little piece of meat I gave Max to be sure there weren’t any bones in his chicken.

For dessert we had boxed brownies (yup, from a box….i can only put in so much effort for a meal!!)