Vegan Sangria!

Well, my mom and dad came over for dinner tonight, and, as usual, I fretted about what to make for dinner.  Dad is an established carnivore, and my recipes that other carnivorous friends usually rave about, my dad always seems to find barely tolerable.  He's always polite about whatever I serve, but I can tell he's wishing he was back at his house in front of Jeopardy! eating a steak or a grilled cheese sandwich.

So, Mark suggested the Paella recipe from the Yoga Journal (June 2010) and we decided to make it "Spanish Night."  I can't post the paella recipe without violating copyrights (but definitely look it up - it's amazing!) but we came up with our own sangria recipe that is probably the best sangria I have ever had, thanks to a tip from a Trader Joe's employee!  Best of all, Dad loved the whole meal.  Here is our sangria recipe:

Vegan Sangria
1 bottle vegan red wine*
1 bottle Italian Blood Orange Soda (we found it at Trader Joe's)
1 apple
1 orange
1 pear
1 lemon
1 lime

Directions:
Cut the apple and pear into bite sized chunks, slice orange, lemon and lime.  Put into large container, add wine and soda.  Chill for 2 hours in fridge.  Add ice when serving.

* Not sure if your favorite wine is vegan?  Get the iPhone application, "Is Your Wine Vegan?" and the puzzle is solved!