Thursday Recipe - Tortilla Roll-Up Sandwiches

I had a request for more kid-friendly picnic foods. This is an easy one to change up to suit your family's tastes. The nice thing is you can use any size tortilla and put whatever you want inside it. You can slice them into pinwheels or serve them as long rolls.

Go light on the spreads and wet ingredients like pickles, though. Unless you don't mind liquid dripping out the back end of the roll.

Corn tortillas don't work very well with this recipe, they tend to split and break apart. If you want a gluten-free version, you can try the GF tortillas that are similar to flour tortillas, or you could use rice spring roll wrappers and make these more like fresh rolls.

Tortilla Roll-Up Sandwiches

12 6-8" flour tortillas OR 6 10-12" flour tortillas
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 c. shredded cheese (sharp cheddar or swiss are the normal choices, but use whatever you like)
1 T. fresh parsley, chopped fine (totally optional but makes it more pretty)
1 12-oz package of lunch meat (bologna, turkey, ham, salami, roast beef, etc.)
2-3 c. salad mix - shredded iceberg lettuce, baby greens, spinach, etc
Optional toppings - pickles (drained and patted dry), sliced olives, chopped or shredded veggies, thinly sliced apple, mustard, horseradish sauce, etc.

Mix cream cheese with shredded cheese and parsley. Feel free to add some mustard or horseradish or green onions or chives or dill or other herbs to this mix. Spread over tortillas as thin or thick as you like.

Layer sandwich meats over the top of the cream cheese. Add optional toppings as desired, but keep these to a minimum. Too many of them will make your roll-ups fall apart. You can always serve them as salad on the side.

Roll up the tortillas as tightly as you can. If they don't stay rolled up, dab more of the cream cheese mixture on top of the fillings to help them hold together. Cover and refrigerate the sandwiches for a couple of hours before serving, especially if you want to turn them into pinwheels.

For pinwheels, slice the tortilla rolls into thick slices and turn cut side up to show off the pretty layers in the middle.