It’s easier than you think to stick to your diet and still have refreshing drinks at your Labor Day gathering. Here are four ideas for low calorie Labor Day Drinks.
1. — Make Dressed Up Water by garnishing with citrus fruit slices or freeze raspberries in ice cubes.
Use Frozen Fruit cubes in place of ice. Reserve chunks of cantelope, honeydew melon, and canary melon from your fruit salad. Freeze chunks in a single layer on a cookie sheet. When frozen, transfer chunks to zip top plastic bags. Garnish sparkling or still water with three frozen melon chunks, one in each color (orange cantelope, green honeydew melon, and yellow canary melon). Serve in a Collins Glass.
Use Edible Flower Garnishes for your sprakling or still water. To make edible flower ice cubes, place a small blossom or one or two petals from larger blossoms in water when making ice cubes. When frozen, transfer “flowered ice cubes” to a sip top plastic bag. Garnish sparkling or still water with two or three “flowered ice cubes” and place one fresh blossom or herb sprig on the rim of the glass. Use only flowers you have grown or those you know are grown without pesticides. Serve in a Collins Glass.
Popular edible flowers:
bachelor’s button — Ocimum basilicum — use only petals — white, pink and blue
dandelion — Taraxacxum officinale — sweet, honey-like flavor — use petals from young flowers — yellow,
hibiscus — Hibiscus rosa-sinensis — mildly citrus flavor — rose, red
lilac — Syringa vulgaris — wide variation in flavor — lavender
nasturtium — Tropaeolum majus — spicy, peppery flavor
pansy — viola x wittrockiana –slightly sweet green or grassy flavor, whole flower has wintergreen flavor, mild flavored petals
rose — Rosa spp. — perfumed flavor
violet — Viola odorata — sweet, perfumed flavor
2. — Serve Mocktails by omitting the alcohol, and the many calories that go along with alcohol.
Virgin Bellini
2 oz peach juice
1 t grenadine syrup
2 oz white soda
Add ingredients in order. Serve in a White Wine Glass.
3. — Substitute lower calorie ingredients, such as diet soda or Splenda, in your favorite drinks. An equal amount of Splenda is an excellent sugar substitute. This Cucumber Punch tastes like a spa drink and has very few calories.
Cucumber Punch
4 c water
2 small cucumbers
3/4 c Splenda
1/4 c fresh lime juice
1 qt diet lemon-lime soda
Put water and sugar in blender. Chop the ends off cucumbers. Chop each cucumber into 4 pices and put in the blender. Puree until smooth. Drain through a colander into a large pitcher. Add lemon-lime soda. Chill and serve in a Collins glass.
4. — Serve iced herbal teas, sweetned to taste, in place of pre-sweetened iced tea.
Iced Herbal Tea
6 – 8 herbal tea bags (peppermint, lemon, ginger or your favorite flavor)
4 c boiling water
honey or sugar to taste
Pour boiling water over tea bags in a large pitcher. Steep 10 to 15 minutes. Remove tea bags. Chill. Serve in a Collins Glass with honey or sugar to taste.
To find more delicious recipes, simply go to the top of the page and click on “Angela Cisco.”
