Lower-Calorie Holiday Drink Recipes

Wine Spritzer

(Instead of a full glass of wine/champagne, this has half the calories.)

Ingredients:
3 oz white wine (Sauvignon Blanc, Reisling, etc), 1 oz club soda, handful of ice, lemon or orange garnish

Directions:
Pour wine into glass containing ice.  Top off with club soda.  Squeeze a wedge of orange or lemon and add garnish to glass or rim.

 

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Eggnog

(Instead of the regular, high-calorie, high-fat version, try this one.)

Ingredients:
3.5 cups 1% or fat free milk, ½ cup sweetened condensed fat free milk, 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour, ¼ tsp grated nutmeg, 1/8 tsp salt, 2 large egg yolks, ¼ cup bourbon, 2 Tbsp brandy, 1 tsp vanilla extract, extra nutmeg to garnish

Directions: 

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and boil over medium heat on stove, stirring with whisk.    Place egg yolks in a bowl and whisk 1/3 of hot mixture into egg yolks.  Add everything back to saucepan, stir with whisk and continue to cook on medium heat for 1 minute or until thickened.  Pour into pitcher and stir in brandy, bourbon, and vanilla.
2. Cover pitcher surface with wax paper and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with added nutmeg when serving.

This makes 8 ½ cup servings, each at 147 calories and 2.3 g fat.

 

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Apple Sangria

(Try this fall fruit version instead of the usual sugary one.)

Ingredients:
3 cinnamon stick with extra for garnish, 2 chopped honeycrisp apples, 1 orange sliced thin, 1 bottle red wine (light bodied Spanish works well), 1.75 cups apple cider, ½ cup brandy, ¼ cup orange juice (or juice from 2 medium oranges), juice from one lemon, club soda

Directions:

1. Place cinnamon sticks, apples and orange slices into a pitcher.  Add wine, cider, brandy, orange and lemon juice.  Refrigerate for 6-24 hours.
2. Pour into glasses with fruit, and add extra cinnamon stick to garnish as desired.
3. Add club soda to taste right before serving. The more club soda vs. mixture, the less calories!