Summery Sangria

I love sangria, but I have never made it myself at home.  I am not sure why I just buy the premade stuff and have been satisfied.  But during this time being at home, I have lots of time on my hands - well I should say, extra time on my hands as I am still working from home and teaching from home.  I decided to give it a shot-after looking at several recipes - I decided to make my own & this is what I did:

What you'll need:

1 cup of rum (I used )
26 oz of red wine (I used )
1 cup simple syrup (see below)*
1 cup orange juice if you are not using real oranges (which I do not)
4 strawberries
6 cherries
1/2 cut up apple
mint (optional-I used Lavender)

*simple syrup is just one cup of sugar and one cup of water gently heated on the stove for about 3-4 minutes until the water and the sugar are combined and then cooled completely before adding to the sangria

I put the fruit into my pitcher, along with the wine and rum and muddled the fruit a bit.  Added orange juice and my simple syrup.  Chilled for an hour & then enjoyed :)

xoxo, Lela