Bottoms Up with Festive Egg Nog!

I have been putting up and decorating my Christmas tree and this year without the fortifying effect of an early Christmas tipple! I’ll level with you here … it hasn’t been as joyous as years gone by. Somehow hanging a bauble with the promise of a sip of something sustaining to follow always made the ‘chore’ a bit more festive. Not all of it is a chore … I don’t mind the pretty decorating bits but the de-tangling of the lights, changing the fuses and stabilising the tree take away much of the fun. So what to do? Well, the tree was done but there was still more in the way of table, mantle piece, door and gate decorating to do, so I set myself the challenge of coming up with the bariatric egg nog drink to ease this job list. And so here it is ….

an egg nog every bit as good as the boozy pre-surgery version I used to make. The former was always loaded with sugar and lashings of double cream. It was a naughty and very nice festive tipple that weighed in heavily on calories, fat and sugar. This version doesn’t skimp on flavour, cuts sugar to the minimum, ditches the booze (although you can add if you like) and will fool any yuletide guests that it’s the ‘real thing’ Bottoms Up from me!

Ideally make the day before required or on the morning before serving so the mixture chills sufficiently. This is a recipe that even early post-ops can enjoy too.

FESTIVE EGG NOG

Ingredients

METRIC/US

400 ml/13/4 cups milk (I used semi-skimmed)

2 cinnamon sticks

1 vanilla pod or a few drops of vanilla extract

1 tsp ground nutmeg or 1 nutmeg grated, plus extra to sprinkle

3 eggs, separated

few drops rum essence or 4 measures rum

2 ripe bananas

Method

Place the milk in a pan with the cinnamon sticks, vanilla seeds from the pod or vanilla extra to taste and the nutmeg. Bring just to the boil then allow to cool and chill. When chilled strain the milk.
Place the egg yolks in a blender, add the rum essence to taste or rum and the bananas. Process to blend then slowly add the strained milk mixture and process to combine. You can then use the mixture or leave in the refrigerator and chill until required, up to about 48 hours ahead.
When ready to serve or drink, whisk the egg whites until peaks form then mix into the milk mixture to blend well. Pour into glasses and dust with a little extra nutmeg if liked.

SERVES 4

WLS PORTION: 1/2-1

V suitable for Vegetarians

CALORIES PER PORTION: 165

PROTEIN: 9g

CARBOHYDRATE: 15.9g

FAT: 6.6g