23:44 Feb 09 2020
Times Read: 646
Wendy & Sheri's Delicious Mulled Wine Recipe
To begin, gather your ingredients. For this mulled wine recipe, you will need:
Wine: No need to splurge on a pricey bottle — any basic bottle of dry red or white wine will do. (Or if you’re making a big batch, this is a great recipe to break out the boxed wine too!)
Fresh oranges: One of which we will slice and mull with the wine, one of which you can slice and use as a garnish if you’d like. (To minimize bitterness, feel free to peel the orange before simmering it in the wine.)
Cinnamon: I love the making mulled wine with cinnamon sticks, but you could whisk in some ground cinnamon if that’s what you have on hand.
Mulling spices: These vary in mulled wine from country to country, but whole cloves and star anise are my favorites, plus perhaps a few cardamom pods.
Sweetener: Feel free to add your favorite sweetener to taste. Sugar is classic, but I prefer a few tablespoons of maple syrup or honey.
Extra liqueur (optional): Similar to sangria, it’s also traditional to spike your mulled wine with an extra bit of liqueur, if you’d like. I like to add a bit of brandy, bourbon or cognac, but any favorite liqueur will do here. (Or you can skip the extra liqueur if you prefer.)
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and give them a quick stir.
Simmer. Heat until the wine just barely reaches a simmer over medium-high heat. (Avoid letting it bubble — you don’t want to boil off the alcohol.)
Reduce heat to low, cover, and let the wine simmer for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 hours. The longer it simmers, the more the spices meld into the winey deliciousness.
Strain and season. Using a fine mesh strainer, remove and discard the orange slices, cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise and ginger. I use a giant tea ball for the spices so no straining is necessary.
Give the mulled wine a taste, and stir in your desired amount of extra sweetener if needed.
Serve. Serve warm in mugs, topped with your favorite garnishes.
This is perfect for gatherings and was perfect at my Superbowl get-together.
Thought I share.
Update
21:06 Feb 04 2020
Times Read: 675
Home on an odd day off, which is especially strange given the hours I have been working lately. I am actually helping my mother to get prepared for a major surgical procedure on Friday. She had to do pre-admit bloodwork and other similar things and did not want to go alone, so I took the day off. Oddly, this allowed me to stop by VR and see how everyone was doing.
Everything is great here. The new job is AMAZING. The work is amazing. It is nice to be working with lawyers, but not having to be a lawyer. LOL. The salary is so good and the paid time off is a benefit that I never expected. Also, having health insurance back and a retirement plan is just icing on the cake.
My birthday was interesting. We had a plumbing emergency, so spent the entire night waiting on the after hours plumber to arrive. We ended up eating frozen pizza. LOL. Life goes on and it's just another day anyway.
Mom turned 72 on Sunday and I was so honored to be able to throw her a surprise party. See, she had been wanting a party since she was a kid and never had one. I am the WORST at keeping secrets, but kept this one. It was so great to see her beaming ear-to-ear. It was a great day.
I'm glad to have the chance to stop back by, I've missed this place.
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