Skinny Gin And Tonic

Hi, readers, this week I bring you a Skinny Gin and Tonic recipe!  What’s better than downing a few cocktails after a stressful week?  Downing a few cocktails with fewer calories so you can have more to drink!

True confession time, I like to drink.  I’m an equal opportunity drinker too.  Which means I enjoy beer, wine, and liquor in all varieties.  If you hand me a cup of liquid and tell me it’s alcohol, I’ll probably enjoy it.

Gin and Tonic is my favorite summertime cocktail, it’s refreshing to drink when it’s hot outside.  Trouble is, I don’t want ONE Gin and Tonic, I want several.  If you’re counting calories that poses a problem since alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories.  I’ve tinkered around with different flavored waters to find a well-balanced Gin and Tonic that still tastes refreshing but has fewer calories.  After a few attempts, I found the perfect combination: a shot of gin, a splash of tonic water, topped off with Apricot LaCroix, and a lime wedge.

I bring you, a Skinny Gin and Tonic!

I’ll tell you what readers, I need all the Skinny Gin and Tonic’s I can get this week.  After trying to sell my Chicago condo for a year and a half, I finally got a crappy offer I could accept a couple weeks ago.

Ready to cringe?

I bought my Chicago condo over 10 years ago for 200K.  The housing market collapsed shortly after I bought.  The offer I had to accept?  134K.  FML.  Screw it, I’ll spell it out, fuck my life.  HA!

Over 66K worth of profit flushed down the drain.  Can you believe that shit?  The 4 offers I received before this were worse.  People offered me 125K and wanted their closing costs covered.  The starting selling point was 179K with no takers.  I had no choice to accept the 134K, I’ve been trying to sell over a year without luck, and I desperately want this property out of my name.  Luckily the mortgage is paid down low enough where I won’t lose money on this 134K deal, but I’m not making any money either.

2016 has been stressful.  My stepdad unexpectedly passed away in January, then we purchased a new house March, and now we’re trying to sell our Chicago condo from Portland.

Anyone who’s purchased or sold property can relate to how stressful the process is!

It seems like every other day I’m being asked by my Chicago attorney to provide information, get documents notarized, or send money for this or that.  My attorney, trying to close the sale, needs everything he asks for yesterday, so it’s a scramble to complete everything ASAP.  I’ve spent hundreds of dollars obtaining documents,  getting documents notarized, and overnighting documents from Oregon to Illinois.

One night I got an email saying I had to quickly notarize then overnight a particular document.  I RUSHED to the closest UPS store after work who had a notary on staff.  The notary reviewed the documents then looked at me funny.  Unbeknownst to me, Chicago sent me the documents for another person’s sale!!  The documents didn’t have my name on it!  I arrived at UPS at 5:30 pm (PST) which was 8:30 pm (CST) so the Chicago staff had left for the night.  I had no choice but to go home, email everyone about the mix-up, and rush back to UPS the following night.

Selling the condo will be a sigh of emotional and financial relief.  When we first moved to Portland we couldn’t find a buyer so luckily our friend moved into our unit so we didn’t have to hire a costly management company to find a renter.

Our friend Jillian was an amazing tenant who paid the rent on time and kept our unit in great condition.  Since we trusted she would take care of our property, we made her a deal on the rent.  Her rent covered the Chicago mortgage and the monthly associations’ dues.  Kieran and I didn’t charge her extra to cover the insurance and property taxes, which came out of our pocket, roughly 3K per year.

The Chicago condo is supposed to close on August 19th, and from what I understand, the bank and my attorney’s office finally have everything they need.  If you hear a crazed cheering sound outside your house on the 19th, don’t be alarmed, I’m shouting from a rooftop in glee.

Trying to remodel the house we recently purchased and selling my Chicago condo from another state has lead to some stress.

I alleviate said stress with drinking, and this Skinny Gin and Tonic is my summer go to.  It’s simple and tastes amazingly refreshing, especially on a hot summer day!

The reason this cocktail is considered “skinny” is that the majority of the mixer is calorie free Apricot LaCroix.  I originally thought using Lime LaCroix was the obvious choice, but Apricot LaCroix won the taste test!

The other mixer I use is Powell & Mahoney’s Tonic Sparkling Cocktail Mixer. I love Powell & Mahoney’s products because they use all natural ingredients instead of refined and over processed sugars.  The Tonic Sparkling Cocktail Mixer has 45 calories per 4 fl oz (8 tablespoons).  I use a splash of the mixer (roughly 2 tablespoons) which comes to 10 extra calories per serving.  Powell & Mahoney has a Spiced Grapefruit Tonic mixer I have yet to try, but sounds intriguing!

You can get all fancy with your ingredients and use other products but I’m obsessed with the simplicity, the taste, and the low-calorie aspects of this cocktail.  The biggest bulk of calories comes from the gin, but the calories from the splash of tonic can probably be burned off while you’re making the drink!!  I love seeing other bloggers post fancy cocktails with unique ingredients, and/or seasonal fruit juices, but if those cocktails have a crazy amount of calories, I shy away from drinking them!

I want the biggest flavor and “bang” for my calorie buck.  And here’s the reality, I want several drinks, one’s never enough.  Especially after a stressful workday.

The Apricot LaCroix, a splash of Powell & Mahoney’s Tonic mixer, Crater Lake Gin, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice results in one of the best gin and tonic’s I’ve ever tasted!  I recommend giving it a try!

*This is not a sponsored post, I sincerely enjoy these products.  Even thought LaCroix, Powell & Mahoney’s, and Crater Lake Gin are NOT paying me for this post, they should, because I buy a ridiculous amount of their products.  HA!!

Calorie Breakdown

Shot of gin – 96
Apricot Lacroix – 0
Splash (2 tablespoons) of Powell & Mahoney’s Tonic Mixer – 10

Total calories for 1 cocktail – 106