Sunrise Pineapple-Orange Mimosa

Mimosas are always so popular at brunches.  They’re an elegant orange-colored champagne cocktail.  A classic one is made with orange juice and champagne.  The addition of pineapple juice makes a wonderful fruity change.  As for the champagne, no need to buy an expensive bottle, any reasonably priced sparkling wine will do.  For the kids use 7-up to replace the sparkling wine.  The skinny for 1 refreshing cocktail is 152 calories, 0 fat and 6 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS. Cheers!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups fresh orange juice, chilled

1 cup pineapple juice, chilled

1 (750 ml) bottle champagne or sparkling wine, chilled, see shopping tip

Pineapple or orange slices, for garnish, optional

Instructions

1. In a pitcher, stir together the orange juice and pineapple juice.

2. To make one cocktail, pour equal parts orange juice mixture and then champagne into a champagne flute, wine or martini glass.  Garnish with one pineapple or orange slice, if desired.

3. This recipe can be doubled, tripled and so on.  To make it kid-friendly, plan for extra orange juice and pineapple juice.  Add equal parts of the juice mixture and 7-up.

Serves 6

Food Fact
The mimosa was invented in 1925 at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France.  A nearly identical drink was created in 1921 at a tavern in London and given the name Buck’s Fizz, and because of this, a mimosa is still called a Buck’s Fizz in the United Kingdom. Because of its color, the mimosa gets its name from the Acacia dealbata, a bright orange to yellow tropical flower.

Healthy Benefits
Orange juice is a good source of vitamin C which helps to boost the immune system.  It also contains a fairly large amount of potassium.

Pineapple juice contains a good amount of vitamin C, B vitamins and potassium.  It contains the enzyme bromelain, a natural anti-inflammatory that encourages the healing of bruises and swelling in the body.

Shopping Tip
I used my favorite inexpensive sparkling wine called Tobin James California. It’s a wonderful, reasonably priced sparkling wine from the Central Coast.  It retails for under $10. I  bought it at Smart and Final or use your favorite.  Both Trader Joe’s and World Market carry a nice variety of very reasonable sparkling wines.

Weight Watchers (old points) 4
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 6

SKINNY FACTS: for 1 serving 152 calories, 0 fat, 1g protein, 19g carbs, 0g fiber, 5mg sodium, 13g sugar

FAT FACTS: the skinny and fat facts are the same for this recipe