Bring on the Booze!

Sometimes you just need a cocktail. As I prepare for vacation, I decided we needed a little break from the Retro WW action, so I enlisted the help of a fellow blogger buddy. Since my vintage WW mags and cookbooks contain no recipes containing alcohol, I asked Emily (AKA the fabulous yinzerella) to mix up some retro cocktails and snacks for us -- figure friendly of course. She did not disappoint. So gather round, ladies and gents. Let's get loaded! And be sure to stagger on over to Emily's blog for more Retro Food & Fun...

Greetings and Salutations! Firstly, I want to say how flattered I am that Miss Mimi invited me to contribute to her fab blog.

I am currently working my way through the 1972 Dinner is Served! recipe card series, but since those are most definitely NOT ‘figure-friendly’ I turned to one of my new acquisitions, The 2 in 1 International Recipe Card Collection for Mixed Drinks and Hors D’Oeuvres, published in 1977 by Random House. This set of more than 300 cards includes a section titled “Low-Calorie Drinks.”

According to The 2 in 1:

“…there is no reason to go on the wagon just because you want to lose a pound or two. In fact, if you do give up liquor and substitute high-calorie sodas, or worse, milk shakes, or worse still, if you proceed to munch your way through the cocktail hour on cheese and creamy dips, take second helpings at dinner instead of a glass of wine, and raid the fridge at nightcap time, you’ll find yourself getting fatter than ever.”

Well, that makes perfect sense to me! Yay to wine! Yay to nightcaps! Ole! to Margaritas and No-Crust Chili Pizzettes!

I reduced the amount of beef (I used 93/7 ground) to 8 oz and reduced the amount of tomato paste and egg in half, but used the same amount of veggies and spices as directed in the recipe. I didn’t have any Cayenne in stock so I used extra chili powder and instead of regular ol’ green pepper I substituted the slightly spicier Poblano.

After they were balled, pattied, smothered, and sprinkled, the pizzettes went into a 400 degree oven in a cast-iron grill pan. About 15 minutes later they emerged from the oven and I plated them along the lo-cal Margs.

Here’s the result:

I love any reason to bring out my baby sombrero.

Where the hell was the ‘chili’ in the No-Crust Chili Pizzettes??? It wasn’t there. These were bland. In hindsight I should’ve used a Jalepeno or hotter pepper and seriously upped the spices as a whole (that doesn’t mess with points!). I can only imagine how super-bland it would’ve been if the flavors were diluted by twice as much ground beef. Also, in what parallel universe does ½ cup of tomato paste + oregano + garlic = enough topping for a full tablespoon on 8 patties let alone 16?

Furthermore, I love how at the bottom of the recipe it reads, “if desired, place patties on round sesame or Euphrates crackers.” Uh…doesn’t that totally negate the point of them being ‘No-Crust’?

The Margarita was skimpy. Thong skimpy. That’s not a cocktail. That’s a shot. I ultimately made the Margarita as prescribed but put it on ice in an 8 oz glass and topped it with diet 7Up. Yum. The result is the same points-wise but is a much more satisfying beverage.

According to current WW calculations = 2 pts. per No-Crust Chili Pizzette & 3 pts. per Margarita.

The verdict: for a mini fiesta, you’d be better off dipping crudités in bean dip and putting some Bethenny Frankel’s Skinny Girl margaritas on the rocks. I’m just sayin’.