Yield: Serves 10

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! This punch has got it going on and I can’t wait to mix it up this weekend. A blend of fresh and hard ciders, South African rooibos tea, and brandy, it’s a lightly alcoholic drink best enjoyed on the front porch or while grilling dinner with friends. For something just a little different, try a pear cider instead of an apple cider.

Ingredients

1 cup boiling water
2 rooibos tea bags
4 orange slices
1 cup fresh apple cider
1/2 cup orange juice
4 packets Sweet’N Low®
18 ounces hard cider
3 ounces brandy

Directions

For the tea, pour the hot water over the tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags and chill the tea.

Place the orange slices in a large pitcher. Using a long wooden spoon, mash the fruit lightly. Add the chilled tea, fresh cider, orange juice, and Sweet’N Low® and stir to combine. Add 8-10 large ice cubes. Pour in the hard cider and brandy and stir 3 or 4 times. To serve, place 4 large ice cubes into Old Fashioned-style tumblers and fill each three-quarters with the punch.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories 73
Fats 0g
Total Carbohydrate 11 g
Sugars 9g

Be sure to pitch the junk food and have healthy snacks in the house at all times. If a random craving hits, the only choice you can make will be a good one.

It’s a shocking statistic, but it’s true.

In 2010 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) released updated dietary guidelines, called MyPlate, to help Americans make smarter food choices, increase physical activity, and improve overall health. But, according to a new survey from NPD Insights, Americans only meet the daily recommendation of fruits, veggies, whole grains and dairy 7 out of 365 days a year!

Obesity statistics provide a stark reminder that maintaining a healthy diet can be a struggle. Many Americans are simply consuming more calories than their bodies burn off, resulting in unhealthy weight gain. In 2010, the Dietary Guidelines identified some of the areas that Americans should work to reduce:

• Added sugars
• Sodium
• Cholesterol

As much as any other statistic, this one helps to explain why only seven days out of the year are MyPlate Days: Taste is still king.

NPD’s research showed that taste is the leading factor for choosing what to eat. “Because the food was healthy/nutritious” came in dead last.

As I’ve said before on this blog, learning how to prepare nutritious foods and cut added calories, without sacrificing taste, works so much better than simply promoting nutritious foods based solely on the merits of their contents. That’s why I share recipes like Make-Ahead Green Beans, shows you how to prepare veggies that taste great, and Heart Healthy Apricot Muffins that gives you a healthier, low sugar alternative to your favorite breakfast food.

Nutritious foods and tasty foods should not be seen as mutually exclusive. There is no “magic switch” here. Rather a series of small tweaks can be made to gradually steer the average diet to the MyPlate ideal of healthy moderation.

TGIF!  Today’s Skinny Recipe comes from guest blogger, Kim Galeaz of The Dietitian Does Dessert. Kim is a registered dietitian and culinary nutritionist with a passion for blending great taste with good health. We’re both so excited to share this wonderful recipe with all of you. Here’s what she had to say:

There are triple benefits packed into this zesty salsa – easy, tasty and filled with health-promoting nutrients! In-season mango and strawberries are blended with zesty jalapeno and garlic to create a refreshing and unique dip for corn tortilla chips or an accompaniment to grilled fish or poultry. Tart lime is balanced with just a hint of sweetness, but no extra calories, thanks to no-calorie sweeteners. Picnics, graduation parties, BBQ’s, cookouts and reunions….you’ll find unlimited reasons to make this great-tasting and healthy salsa!

Check out the recipe below and if you like it, visit her website for more or follow her on Twitter @kimfoodtalk.

Makes 9 servings of ½-cup each

Ingredients

1 pound strawberries, hulled and diced (roughly 3 heaping cups diced)
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and diced (roughly 1-2/3 cups diced)
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and very finely diced
Zest from 1 lime
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
¼ cup very finely chopped cilantro
1 to 2 packages calorie-free sweetener (such as Splenda, Nutrasweet, Sweet ‘n Low, Truvia)
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

In a large bowl, gently toss strawberries, mango, red onion and jalapeno pepper together. In a small bowl, whisk together lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, calorie-free sweetener, salt and garlic powder.  Pour over berry mixture and toss lightly to blend. Serve immediately or refrigerate in a tightly covered container.

Calories: 40
Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 10g
Protein 0.5g
Fiber 2g

Recipe created by Kim Galeaz, RD CD