Healthy & Delicious: White Peach Bellini
Note: On Mondays, Kristen Swensson of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share healthy and delicious recipes with us. Take it away, Kristen!
When you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a weight loss, one of the trickiest areas to navigate is alcohol. Beer, wine, liquor, and mixed drinks are a caloric minefield, and too many pints can sink a diet faster than a box of doughnuts. (Mmm, doughnuts.) Of course, a life without booze is nigh unthinkable for some of us. (Note: me.) So, how do we reconcile our desire to get healthy with our desire for a Mudslide?
Moderation is part of it, as is planning ahead, pacing ourselves, and quaffing water between drinks. Choosing lower-calorie mixers like diet soda, seltzer, and fruit purees helps as well. And of course, some beverages are naturally lighter than others. An average glass of red wine should only run you about 110 calories, while a full-size frozen margarita will cost you 750. (For more calorie counts, see here.)
Two of my favorite ways to imbibe intelligently are mimosas and bellinis. Usually served with breakfast, they mix small amounts of fruit juice or fruit purees with champagne or a sparkling white wine like Prosecco. Generally less than 100 calories a pop, you can nurse them for awhile without feeling guilty. Oh, and they’re delicious, too.
This White Peach Bellini recipe comes from Bon Appétit. The original instructions don’t call for straining the puree, but I highly recommend it. After trying it both ways, I found there’s way too much pulp in the non-strained version. Beyond that, it’s pretty dang tasty. And for the drinking dieter, you can't do much better than that.
White Peach Summer Bellini
- serves 6 -
Adapted from Bon Appétit.
Ingredients
2 medium-size very ripe unpeeled white peaches, halved, pitted
2 tablespoons (or more) lemon juice
2 tablespoons (or more) Simple Syrup
1 750-ml bottle chilled Prosecco
Procedure
Puree peaches, lemon juice, and syrup in blender. Taste; add more syrup or lemon juice, if desired. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Pour 2 tablespoons strained puree into each of 6 Champagne flutes. Fill with Prosecco.
View other entries from Cocktail Concoctions.
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5 Comments:
Choosing lower-calorie mixers like diet soda, seltzer, and fruit purees helps as well.
The problem with choosing diet mixers is that research has suggested that artificial sweeteners increase alcohol absorption (and some would say that they hinder weight loss).
Lyra Ngalia at 11:17AM on 09/07/09
Use of Splenda has some laxative effect but what a way to "go". Reminds us of Harry's Bar in Venice as this is their sig drink . I had to go way back to room to change into long pants to get in,but it was worth it. That bar should be on everyones "ice bucket " list.
jfitz at 5:40PM on 09/07/09
Hey Lyra - True, and they might not necessarily fill you up as much as a full-calorie drink. But if coupled with the other suggestions, you should be more than fine.
Kristen Swensson at 9:48PM on 09/07/09
Bellinis are one of my absolute favorite drinks! Another great option is a Strawberry Bellini.
seditalia86 at 9:41AM on 09/08/09
I like to add a little Fee's peach "bitters" to mine. Heightens the peach aroma, if you will.
JerseyRED at 5:25PM on 09/09/09