I’m celebrating my latest novel, Owner of a Lonely Heart, which is published this week in hardback, e-book and audiobook formats.
So it seemed like a great time to share these ideas for celebrations, taken from my Ultimate 5:2 Recipe Book.
People were surprised when I included cocktail recipes in a diet cookbook, but I have always believed that fasting - and in fact all successful lifestyle changes - only work long-term if they make room for enjoyment!
The Fast Day versions are also ideal if you’re taking a break from alcohol, or don’t drink it at all.
Cocktails for everybody
I am a cocktail lover, partly from watching too much Mad Men and partly after discovering so many great cocktail bars when we lived in Barcelona – Brighton, where we now live, doesn’t disappoint on the mixology front either.
To celebrate the 5:2 red-and-green theme (they also happen to be my favourite colours), I focused on red and green cocktails. The alcohol-free versions mean you can still enjoy a colourful and tempting drink on Fast Days – and the stronger cocktails are perfect for when you’re celebrating reaching a weight loss milestone. Cheers!
Red Drinks
At home, our favourite martini is a Cosmopolitan, made famous by the Sex and the City girls. It’s the drink my partner, Richard, makes when we’re celebrating, or before going out for a big night! Yes, it’s boozy and but there’s a Fast Day version, too.
All measures are 25ml unless otherwise stated.
Richard’s Cosmo
Calories per cocktail: 224
2 measures vodka 112 cals
1 measure triple sec (e.g. Cointreau) 85 cals
squeeze fresh lime juice 2 cals
2 measures cranberry juice 25 cals
(Adjust up for more than one person – or down for less alcohol, but the proportions stay the same!)
orange peel, to garnish
1. Put all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake well (Richard says the sound changes when you’ve shaken thoroughly to more of a ‘thump’).
2. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a strip of orange peel that you’ve ‘flamed’ by holding next to a lit match until the oils spit a little and release their aroma.
Fast Day: Kate’s Cosmopo-light-an
Calories per mocktail: 23
2 measures light cranberry juice 4 cals
squeeze of fresh lime juice 2 cals
2 measures fresh orange juice or 1 measure fresh orange and 1 measure grapefruit 18 cals or 17 cals
orange peel, to garnish
1. Prepare in exactly the same way as a normal Cosmo including the garnish! If you want a little alcohol, 1 measure of vodka is 56 calories.
Green Drinks
Our favourite bar when we lived in Barcelona was called Gimlet. It really did make you feel like Don Draper or Joan Harris from Mad Men, with the polished wood bar, the even more polished bar staff and the dreadful silence if you so much as whispered the word Cosmopolitan – any drink invented post-1960 was cocktail-non-grata.
Gimlet: Calories per cocktail: 87
A knockout, although too many will also knock you out.
25ml measure gin (I like Hendrick’s –nothing to do with Christina Hendricks who plays Joan as far as I know) approx. 56 cals
25ml measure lime cordial 31 cals
cocktail cherry, to serve
1. Shake together with ice. Strain. Serve with a cocktail cherry (green and almost red!).
Fast Day: Noijito
Calories per mocktail: 30 (or 88 with a 25ml measure of white rum)
Just like a Mojito. But without the sugar, or the alcohol (well, you can have some if you insist). I don’t often use sweetener but this is a tiny quantity. Or use half a teaspoon of sugar, dissolved in a tablespoon of hot water, then cooled and added to the soda water.
½ teaspoon sweetener 5 cals
1 lime, quartered, plus extra to garnish 20 cals
8 mint leaves, plus extra to garnish 5 cals
crushed ice
25ml white rum e.g. Bacardi (optional) 58 cals
300ml soda water
1. Pound the sweetener, lime quarters and half the mint in a pestle and mortar to release some of the flavours.
2. Place crushed ice in a tall glass, to a quarter of the height. Add the muddled fruits and whole mint leaves and the rum, if using. Top with more ice, then fill to the top with soda water. Garnish with slice of lime and a mint leaf.
Other lower-Calorie Alcohol Choices
Dry sparkling wines like Champagne and cava are among the lowest (90–100 cals per 125ml) – or choose a spirit with a low-calorie mixer.
A small glass (125ml) of red wine is 85 calories and of white wine 83.
Sweet drinks, like liqueurs (and especially the cream-based ones) contain extra sugar on top of the sugar in the alcohol, and alco-pops are often ultra-sweet to suit people who aren’t that keen on the taste of alcohol. You can wean yourself off the sweeter drinks if you want to; our taste buds are very adaptable. Remember when you first tasted alcohol? Chances are you hated the taste, but it grew on you . . .