It’s Monday and I thought we’d start out the week  with a pop quiz. Am I a mean teacher or what? Don’t worry, it’s on a topic some of you might know a little bit about (especially if you’re one of my Monday readers that regularly tunes in for Martini Mondays). The topic is Happy Hour and it’s only 5 questions. Good Luck!

 Cocktail Quiz

How many calories are in the following?

1. Long Island Iced Tea

2. Pina Colada

3. Margarita

4. Mai Tai

5. White Russian

The answer to all of the questions is pretty simple…too many – especially if you’re watching your weight. The Long Island Iced Tea was a bit of a surprise for me.  It can be up to 780 calories. The margarita came in 2nd at 740 calories, with the pina colada not too far behind at 640 calories. These make the White Russian seem like not that bad of a choice at 425 calories. The one with the lowest number of calories is the mai tai, which still weighs in at 350 calories. (This info. comes from a weight loss tips site.) How did you do? Well, don’t give up the happiest hour of the day just yet.

It’s all about balance. I no longer spend time counting calories or points. I pretty much know if I ate a piece of coffee cake loaded with butter, I’m going to be spending time on the treadmill and I definitely won’t be ordering the pina colada for Happy Hour (at least that week). With a little bit of caloric info. and a few good recipes, there are ways to enjoy your cocktails and still fit into your skinny jeans. An ounce and a half of most spirits is a little less than 100 calories so know that when you’re adding sodas, syrups, and mixers, you can easily triple the calories. Lite beer is a good option, but be careful with the wine. A 4 oz. glass of wine has on average 100 calories in it. Have you ever checked to see how much you usually pour? I did a little experiment and took out my favorite wine glass (which happens to be super-sized). I measured and filled it with 4 ounces of water. Yikes! Let’s just say my typical pour is a lot more than 100 calories. Don’t worry Kendall Jackson, I’ll never let calories interfere with our relationship.

So why am I on a low-calorie cocktail kick this week? I was surrounded by sweets prepping for the Relay for Life all last week and did a little too much taste testing. The event was a big success and I was so glad to be part of it. I’ll have more to share later in the week. It’s a jammed packed week for us, the Nordstroms pre-sale with my girlfriends , the American Idol concert, and the Naughty One races in the Wiener Dog Nationals. Cheers to a memory-making week ahead!

This cocktail is a light and refreshing and pretty much anything with Malibu Rum is good in my book.

Girlish Figure (Recipe from The Intoxicologist)

1 oz. Malibu Rum

4 oz. light cranberry juice

splash of diet lemon lime soda

squeeze of fresh lime juice

Combine rum and cranberry juice in a glass with crushed ice. Top off with diet lemon lime soda and a squeeze of lime juice. 

Check out The Intoxicologist for more 100 calorie cocktails!