Part 3 (1/2)

Gin Rickey This old-fas.h.i.+oned c.o.c.ktail is one of my new favorites!

1 tablespoon lime juice 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) gin Club soda to fill Put the lime juice and gin in the bottom of a tall gla.s.s. Fill with ice and then add club soda to the top.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 1 gram of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

Daiquiri Forget all those strawberry daiquiris and banana daiquiris-this is the original, and it's remarkably refres.h.i.+ng.

1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) lime juice 2 shots (3 ounces, or 85 ml) white rum 1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda You can make this two ways: on the rocks or frozen. For a daiquiri on the rocks, simply mix all the ingredients well and pour over ice. For a frozen daiquiri, plunk all the ingredients plus 3 to 4 ice cubes in your blender and blend until the ice is pulverized.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 4 grams of carbohydrate, no fiber, no protein (hah!).

Dana Ma.s.sey's Low-Carb Strawberry Daiquiris This is a sweet indulgence, so have fun!

3 to 4 cups (330 to 440 g) fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed if using frozen to cup (120 to 180 ml) light rum cup (60 ml) lime juice (Don't use Rose's bottled lime juice-it has sugar added.) to[image] cup (6 to 8 g) Splenda (you may use a different sugar subst.i.tute; adjust measurements accordingly) cup (6 to 8 g) Splenda (you may use a different sugar subst.i.tute; adjust measurements accordingly) Crushed ice Place strawberries, rum, lime juice, and sugar subst.i.tute in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice; continue to blend until well combined.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings 4 to 6 servings a.s.suming 4, each will have 1 g protein; 11 g carbohydrate; 3 g dietary fiber; 8 g usable carbs.

To make Low-Carb Strawberry Margaritas, replace the rum with tequila.

Dana Ma.s.sey's note: We use erythritol in this recipe.

Dana Carpender's note: I'd probably use Splenda, myself.

Margarita Fizz 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) tequila 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) lime juice 1 teaspoons Splenda 8 ounces (240 ml) unsweetened orange-flavored sparkling water Put the tequila, lime juice, and Splenda in the bottom of a tall gla.s.s and stir. Fill with ice and pour in orange-flavored sparkling water to fill.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 4 grams of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

Seabreeze Sunrise If you like fruity drinks, try this!

1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) tequila 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) low-sugar cranberry juice c.o.c.ktail (Ocean Spray makes one.) 8 ounces (240 ml) pink grapefruitflavored Crystal Light (or any no-sugar grapefruit-flavored drink mix), prepared Combine the tequila and cranberry juice c.o.c.ktail in a tall gla.s.s, fill with ice, and pour in the grapefruit-flavored drink.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 3 grams of carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, and 0 grams protein.

Hard Lemonade Commercially made hard lemonade is actually a malt beverage-in the same cla.s.s as beer. That makes it high carb right there, plus it has sugar. But how hard can it be to make your own?

1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) vodka Sugar-free lemonade (Both Country Time and Wyler's make a sugar-free lemonade mix.) Just fill a tall gla.s.s with ice, pour in the vodka, and fill with sugar-free lemonade. Garnish with a lemon slice, if you like!

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 1 gram carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, and 0 grams protein.

Mojito I'm tragically unhip. I discovered the Mojito while writing this book and fell in love with it-only to learn it had been the hot drink for at least a year!

If you haven't tried this cla.s.sic Cuban drink, you must. (Don't have fresh mint? There's nothing easier to grow-indeed, plant mint and it will threaten to take over your yard!) 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) white rum 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lime juice 1 sprig fresh mint 1 teaspoon Splenda Club soda to fill Combine the rum, lime juice, mint, and Splenda in the bottom of a tall gla.s.s. Using the back of a spoon, press the mint well to release the flavor and stir everything together. Now fill the gla.s.s with ice, then with club soda.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 2 grams carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

Wine Spritzer This is a great drink if you want something mild that you can sip on for a while without getting incapacitated. (A good thing to bear in mind if you have to play around with the grill rack and manipulate hot coals!) 3 ounces (90 ml) dry red wine Unsweetened berry-flavored sparkling water to fill.

Pour the wine over ice in a tall gla.s.s and pour in berry-flavored sparkling water to fill Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 1 gram carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, a trace of protein.

Wine Cooler You have a lot of leeway here! Basically, you're combining wine and diet soda. Experiment to find your favorite combinations.

3 to 5 ounces (90 to 150 ml) dry wine-red or white, whichever you prefer Diet soda-consider trying lemon-lime, red raspberry, tangerine or orange, or grapefruit (Fresca) Pour the wine over ice in a tall gla.s.s and fill with the soda of your choice.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving a.s.suming you use 3 ounces (90 ml) of wine, this will have about 1 gram of carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, and a trace of protein.

Salty Dog This old summer favorite is usually made with grapefruit juice-at 22 grams of carbohydrate per cup. We'd better use the pink grapefruitflavored Crystal Light!

Coa.r.s.e salt 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) gin Crystal Light pink grapefruitflavored sugar-free drink mix (or any no-sugar grapefruit-flavored drink mix), prepared Rim a tall gla.s.s with salt. Fill it with ice and add the gin and Crystal Light grapefruit-flavored drink.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 1 gram carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, 0 grams protein.

Dark and Stormy A cla.s.sic Dark and Stormy is made with ginger beer, not ginger ale, but there is no such thing as low-carb ginger beer, at least that I know of. So, I tried it with diet ginger ale and got a very tasty drink!

1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) dark rum 1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) lime juice Vernor's Diet Ginger Ale (I like to use Vernor's because it's particularly crisp, but if you can't find it, use any diet ginger ale you can get.) Put the rum and lime juice in a tall gla.s.s, add ice, and fill with ginger ale.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 3 grams of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

Shandy This is a cla.s.sic British summer cooler. If you make two, you'll use up all the beer and all the ginger ale!

6 ounces (180 ml) chilled light beer 6 ounces (180 ml) chilled diet ginger ale Simply combine the two in a tall beer gla.s.s.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving Using the lowest-carb light beer, this will have less than 2 grams of carbohydrate per serving, with no fiber, and a trace of protein.

Cuba Libre I bet most of you thought of this on your own, but here's for those of you who didn't.

1 shot (1 ounces, or 42 ml) white rum Diet cola Wedge of lime Put the shot of rum in a tall gla.s.s, fill with ice, and pour diet cola to the top. Squeeze in a wedge of lime.

Yield: 1 serving 1 serving 2 grams of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

Sangria This is a refres.h.i.+ng summer favorite!

1-liter bottle of dry red wine-burgundy, merlot, or the like (You can use the cheap stuff!) [image]cup (16 g) Splenda teaspoon orange extract teaspoon lemon extract 1 orange 1 lemon 1 lime Orange-or lemon-flavored unsweetened sparkling water Pour the wine into a nonreactive bowl. Stir in the Splenda and the extracts.

Now, you have to decide if you're going to serve your sangria from a punch bowl or put it into a clean old jug. Me, I put it in an old 1-gallon (3.8 L) vinegar jug, but I was taking my sangria camping.

If you're going to put your sangria in a punch bowl, simply scrub your fruit and slice it as thin as humanly possible. Put it in the punch bowl with the wine/Splenda mixture and let the whole thing macerate for an hour or so before serving.

If you're using a jug, you'll need to cut your fruit into small chunks that will fit through the neck. Force the fruit into the jug and then pour the wine/Splenda mixture over it. Again, let it macerate for at least an hour.

When the time comes to serve your sangria, fill a tall gla.s.s with ice, pour in 4 ounces (120 ml) of the wine mixture, and fill to the top with lemon-or orange-flavored sparkling water.

Yield: 12 servings 12 servings Each with 6 grams of carbohydrate (a.s.suming you actually eat all the fruit, which you won't-I'm figuring it's really between 4 and 5 grams), a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.

3.

Appetizers and Snacks