I was having lunch margaritas with a friend the other day and she semi-jokingly said, “I love your Instagram – it’s so funny, you’re a dietitian but half the time it seems like your posting something alcoholic that you’re drinking!” ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Well “half the time” is probably A LITTLE OVER THE TOP but yeah, I suppose I enjoy the occasional/frequent glass of wine or vodka soda or Don Julio on the rocks – shoot me, k?

But it got me thinking, I love having a drink. Sometimes more than “a” drink. And everyone who knows me, knows I’m always down for happy hour as long as I get my work done.

Ladies, we are busy kicking ass all week long and we deserve a drink every once in a while. Because drinking is fun. And The Nutrition Addiction is all about feeling good, kicking ass and enjoying life.

I’m committed to giving you permission to throw down every once in a while or to take the edge off after having to ‘people’ all day. Peopling is HARD, guys. Unless you’re an extrovert and you enjoy that kind of thing – even so, I think you’ll like my healthy cocktail recipes.

Invite all your friends over for cocktail hour and lay out some Chili-Lime Pepitas, Crispy Baked Potato Chips and Avocado Ranch Dip. I’m so excited for this. Let’s party.

OK, on to the Apple Sangria. Truth be told, I’m not super into sangria. I mean, it’s ok I guess. But it’s so sugary and always seems to have weird, unnecessary liqueurs that I don’t need or want. It can just be so heavy. Especially red sangrias that you typically see in the fall.

Red sangrias are just too much.

I’ve also had an overwhelming number of people recently confide in me and tell me that they just don’t like red wine (because people confide in me for things like that). So I decided to take it upon myself and create a quick and easy, festive, white wine Apple Sangria to take to all your holiday parties this season.

This Apple Sangria will be perfect at Thanksgiving, for girl’s night or for a boozy potluck brunch (which is where I debuted it and got all rave reviews).

It has about one half of the sugar content that a traditional sangria recipe might have because I only used 1 Tbsp of sugar in the whole thing and instead of using a juice or apple cider to make it fruity, I made it with a slightly less sweet cider beer. And this is where you can really make the recipe your own – there’s so many different flavored cider beers now, so go crazy.

This Apple Sangria has 1/2 the sugar content of a traditional sangria.

You can use any type of apple for this recipe, but I suggest going with a red, sweet apple for flavor, so I’d probably pick a Fuji or a Gala. Or, if you can find them, the apples I used in this Apple Sangria were called Autumn Glory apples. They are literally candy apples – I swear someone is injecting them with caramel. God?

I also suggest mixing up your fruit and wine the night before. Just leave the fizzy beer out until the last minute. This way, the fruity flavors will diffuse into the wine, making a) a better tasting sangria and b) a cheap wine not taste like cheap wine 🙂

Cheers!

Apple Sangria

Author: Megan Hansen, RDN

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 4

A fall-inspired, low sugar, sangria recipe made with fresh apples, pears and cranberries. Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas!

Ingredients

• 1 bottle white wine

• 1 T sugar

• 1 apple, sliced

• ½ pear, sliced

• 1 c cranberries

• 1 bottle cider beer (recommended: Angry Orchard)

Instructions

1. Combine wine and sugar and mix well, until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add fruit.

3. Let chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

4. Add cider beer right before serving.

Serving size: 1/5 recipe (fruit not included)

Calories: 206

Carbohydrates: 14

Sugar: 9

And don’t forget to eat the fruit for the vitamin and fiber bonus! Plus, is there anything better than booze soaked fruit? Probably a few things, but you should do it anyways. If you make this Apple Sangria, shout me out, I wanna see! And if you use any other types of cider or wine that you love, let me know! Just post to IG and use the hashtag #thenutritionaddiction.

Final note – in case you’re thinking, ‘wow, Megan, you’re basically a professional photographer now, your pictures have improved exponentially overnight, amazing,” it’s because Shelby at Shelby Rae Photography took them. I might ask her to move in.