If we could go back in time just for one day to visit our younger selves, I can tell you that there would be an early 20-something Beth, disappointed to know that most opened wine in the house of her mid-30-something self, usually just gets used in a recipe or worse yet, to know that there is any leftover wine at all.

These days, I do such little drinking that I usually only open a bottle of wine if we have guests. On the rare occasion I imbibe just because, I have a glass, the bottle gets put in the fridge and usually it tastes bad before it ever gets finished. I know…. the shame, the horror. I love the way a good glass of wine tastes at the end of a busy day or with a delicious, robust home-cooked meal, but usually, the truth of it is most times I feel terrible before I ever even catch a buzz. My body just doesn’t like the stuff. It’s all “wait, this ain’t green juice. where’s my smoothie?” The other thing is, most mornings I get up so early, either for yoga or the gym, that a hangover, sans party, just never seems worth it. Yup, clearly I have rounded the corner to my mid-30s. These are all things, I swore I would never think or say.

I was at Trader Joe’s last week picking up a few things and I saw the bubbly wines from the corner of my eye, as I pushed my cart full of veggies past the wine section. It just sounded so good. The summer time always has a way of making me crave chilled bubbly wines. So, I treated myself and I bought a bottle, I had a glass once it was chilled, then instantly knew the rest would go to waste, so I decided to get crafty this time. Waste not, want not.

Considering we have more grapes growing on our vines, than I know what to do with, I came up with the plan to make a super simple grape sorbet. Anything creative I can come up with to do with these grapes, is a win. A few quick steps and these grapes would soon be a delicious, refreshing summer dessert, with maybe just a wee bit more fun from a little extra spiked goodness.

You could also use a regular non-sparkling wine, if you’d like and if you don’t consume alcohol at all, the prosecco could be replaced with fruit juice (grape, apple, etc), coconut water or even just water. The alcohol does help to keep the sorbet from getting too hard and too icy, which is nice, but whatever you choose you will still have a delicious sorbet!

Give this sorbet a try with whatever seedless grapes you have. I honestly haven’t a clue what the few varieties are growing at our place, but I can liken the flavor of these particular grapes to being somewhere between concord grapes and your regular run-of-the-mill seedless red grapes. They are actually quite sweet, in my opinion, so I go with 1/2 cup of honey or less. I recommend starting around there and then tasting, adding more only if you need it.

[print_this]Fresh Grape and Prosecco Sorbet {gluten-free, vegan, paleo and AIP-friendly}
makes about 1 quart

• 1 1/2 pounds seedless grapes
• 1 cup prosecco, champage or other sparkling wine (you can also use water or grape juice)
• 1/2 honey or maple syrup*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Add all of the ingredients to your high speed blender. Blend until smooth. You can strain if you’d like, but blenders like the Vitamix or Blendtec do a really great job of breaking down the skins, resulting in a smooth mix, not needing to be strained. I  never strain.

Transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer until ready to serve, it will keep up to 2 weeks.

RECIPE NOTES: you may want more sweetener depending on how sweet your grapes are. I found 1/2 cup to be plenty, but you can always taste and add more. [/print_this]