Early Summer White Sangria

Makes about 12 glasses
Total price: NY $6.76/NY $7.35
Price per serving: NY $0.56/NY $0.61


This past weekend we had some of that back-of-your-neck-feeling-dirty-and-gritty summer weather that New York is famous for. Sangria, particularly this lighter white wine iteration, is just the thing to both cool down and take the edge off the concrete heat. Plus, what other alcoholic beverage comes equipped with a snack?*


Sangria is also a delicious, summery way to stretch a bottle of wine without being a “spritzer” (ugh) or a “cooler” (double ugh). Personally, I think the best part is fishing out the boozy macerated hunks of fruit bobbing about in the beverage. All the more reason to make this at home: you might not feel like you can dig the tasty chunks out with your fingers in a restaurant or bar, but there’s no reason not to in your house or on a picnic. (Go ahead, slurp away and suck off the juices off your fingers while you’re at it!) When you compare the $6 a glass that this will run you in a restaurant with the around 50 cents a glass that this cost us, we're guessing that you'll become home-brewing sangria converts too. And I bet you weren't getting berries or peaches in that restaurant glass, now were you?


Ingredients

• 1 lime (NY $0.17)
• 1 lemon (NY $0.25)
• 1 orange (NY $0.34)
• 2 ripe peaches (NY $1.01)
• 1 pint strawberries (NY $2.00)
• 3 tablespoons sugar (staple)
• 3 shots Cointreau or other orange liqueur (staple)
• 1 bottle dry white wine (NY $2.99)**
• Seltzer (staple*** or NY $0.59)

Directions

Slice the citrus fruits into thin wedges, dice the peaches, and cut the strawberries into quarters lengthwise. Combine in a pitcher or jug with sugar and orange liqueur. Pour over bottle of wine, and chill over night or for several hours. When ready to serve, pour into glasses, spoon in some of the fruit, and top off with seltzer.**** If its blazingly hot out, toss in an ice cube.



Adapted from Rachael Ray, 30 Minute Meals

* Do tell if you can think of any: I really want to know! I don’t consider a maraschino cherry or lime wedge to constitute a “snack”. And no bottom of the bottle worms either, got it? A snack is something one would *want* to eat.

** We used a Two Buck Chuck here. You don’t have to go quite that low, but really its not worth using a pricey bottle of wine in a sangria, what with all the citrus fruits and other stuff you’re tossing in with it. There is a time and place for nice wine, but really this isn’t it.


*** This is a staple for us, as we make our own with one of these. Yes, that is an incredibly pricey gizmo used to make something that is quite inexpensive from the store. It’s not for everyone. But we’re pretty much seltzer addicts over here, and worry about the environmental impact of all those plastic bottles. This way we can guzzle as much seltzer as we like with worrying about the cost or the landfills. And, its shaped like a penguin. If you can resist that, you are a stronger person than I.

**** Since we took this out on a noontime picnic, we ended up using quite a bit of seltzer per glass because, as the LBUH put it, “We’re not having *that* kind of picnic!” Oh, FINE. Sigh.


Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving

Calories 81.4	Vitamin A 2.1 %	Iron 2.4 %
Total Fat 0.2 g	Vitamin B-12 0.0 %	Magnesium 3.2 %
Cholesterol 0.0 mg	Vitamin B-6 2.4 %	Manganese 19.1 %
Sodium 4.0 mg	Vitamin C 53.5 %	Niacin 1.5 %
Potassium 164.7 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Phosphorus 2.0 %
Total Carbohydrate 9.6 g	Vitamin E 0.9 %	Riboflavin 2.2 %
Fiber 1.8 g	Calcium 2.2 %	Selenium 0.7 %
Sugars 1.8 g	Copper 3.5 %	Thiamin 1.8 %
Protein 0.6 g	Folate 2.4 %	Zinc 0.8 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Poll: Artificial Sweeteners: Love 'em or Leave 'em?

Inspired by a recent comment,* we wanted to ask you all:

Artificial Sweeteners: Love 'em or Leave 'em?



Over here, our views fall in the options A-C spectrum, but we're curious to know your thoughts!

* And partially, we'll admit, because we're kind of excited that we've figured out how to actually code a poll.** Oooo, shiny new toy!
** Of course, NOW we need to figure out why the "After the Jump" message is appearing when there is no recipe or nutritional info...

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Stone Stock: Vegetable Version

Makes approx. 4 cups
Total price: NY $0.00
Price per cup: NY $0.00


Remember that old kid's story about making soup from a stone? While the moral of the Stone Soup story is about sharing even when you don't have a lot and the value of community, I also always think of it as meaning "to make something from nothing." As they're now apparently predicting that unemployment is going to rise to nearly 10% by year's end (GASP!), making something out of nothing seems all the more timely.

As some of you have noticed, we make a lot of soups around here. In one of our most recent posts the most expensive ingredient was not the ravioli, the red pepper or the zucchini but the chicken stock! Considering that stock can be made at home from kitchen scraps, and that the cheaper store-bought broths are frequently criticized as being little more than salted water, that just seems like throwing money out the window. (Which, as you can imagine, we're not big fans of around here.) If we'd instead used homemade chicken stock from scrap, the cost per bowl for the Chicken Ravioli Soup recipe would have been a mere NY $0.88!

Thus, our quest to make stocks at home was born. We decided to start small, with veggie stock. (I don't know about you, but carcasses are something I need to work my way up to.) The result was less salty and more complex than broth from a can or box. (As you can see from the photos, the broth was also much darker in color than store-bought.) And it all came from items that we otherwise would have discarded. Ergo, "Stone Stock"!


Ingredients

• 1 gallon freezer bag or container full of vegetable scraps
• 2 bay leaves (staple)
• Several whole peppercorns (staple)
• Several dashes turmeric (staple)

I started this experiment by collecting vegetable scraps in a galloon container in the freezer. All vegetables were scrubbed thoroughly (ok, not the onions) before freezing. Into the container went:

• Onion peels (but not the papery skins or ends)
• Parsley stems
• A bunch of carrots that were close to turning
• Eggplant trimmings
• Red pepper trimmings (not the stems, but we did include the
• seeded core)
• Zucchini trimmings
• Celery leaves and stems
• Green pepper trimmings (ditto red pepper)
• Yellow squash trimmings
• A tiny bit of tomato trimmings
• Potato peels (well scrubbed)
• Basil stems

Directions
You toss in almost any vegetable and herb scraps. Go easy on any broccoli, tomato, asparagus, cauliflower, brussels sprouts or cabbages as these can overpower the flavor. Dump your veggies out into a soup pot, and add enough water to cover by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for about an hour. Strain soup: pour out into a bowl through a sieve. Press down on the solids in the sieve lightly to extract all remaining liquid. Discard solids. Stock can be stored for future use by refrigerating or freezing.

Inspired by the many wonderful posts out there on making vegetable stock from kitchen, well, refuse.

Nutritional
Information omitted as this will vary depending on what you include. In general though, vegetable broth is very low calorie, fat free and should be chock full 'o' vitamins.
Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump