I’m in love with spiral wraps. Again. Although, it’s been a while since they caught my interest. (Enter my nineties flashback of a catered high school tennis team party featuring the never-before-seen spiral shaped veggie and turkey-cream-cheese-dill-stuffed hor d’oeuvres…) I remember the spiral flavor being muddled and milky, but somehow everyone snapped them up anyways. It was that gosh darn pretty spiral shape. It’s hard to bypass the foodie-beauty of a beautiful round spiral.

Flat bread Spiral: 2010. Who says the spirals can’t make a comeback. This is spirals gone modern. I picked up a package of whole wheat wrap flat bread at Whole Foods and decided to reinvent that silly lovable spiral sandwich. The result: my Bullseye Spiral Wrap. It’s a double layered wrap packed with sliced roasted red peppers and my Micro Veggie Cream Cheese. I added two layers of wrap bread so that there was a bit more whole wheat goodness in each bite. Trust me, this lunchtime delight will be right on target for any crowd. School kids, work adults and fussy teenagers. Check out this simple recipe and lots of of how-to photos…

Sprial Memories. I remember my very first spiral wrap slice. I was a teenager. In the nineties. I was at a catered party for my tennis team. A large shiny platter of hor d’oeuvres was brought out featuring these unusual looking spiral sandwiches. It was hard to tell what was tightly rolled into them, but I tasted one anyways. It was filled with a thick cream cheese-like spread, too-much dill (or some other too pungently used herb), some lettuce filling and wrapped in a white-flour wrap shell. It was OK. Different. But the best part was that fun spiral presentation. That lovely spiral got me every time. I’m grab that hor d’oeuvre at any party just to check out that spiral center. We eat with our eyes first!

Healthy Target. I love this ‘updated spiral’ recipe. No yucky white-flour tortilla or thick dill-infused cream cheese. Just pure, fresh vegan ingredients making a perfect bullseye spiral design. OK, It’s an abstract bullseye target. Not perfect. I love it because it’s easy, yet incredibly flavorful. It’s light enough to be a snack, yet depending on how much you eat-it can be quite substantial!

Spiral Filling. Roasted red bell peppers were another discovery of mine when I made this recipe. I’d never bought them before! The come in a large jar and there are about 4-5 large whole peppers stuffed into a liquid of sorts. The peppers are roasted to perfection-soft and succulent. It you noticed, roasted red pepper jars actually made it onto my Vegan Essentials kitchen list too. Red peppers are high in antioxidants and fiber. Plus they are fat free yet super decadent. My Micro Veggie Cream Cheese is the perfect compliment in these wraps. And there is a lot of veggies chopped into the cream cheese-to add to the health-appeal of this recipe.

Double Wrapped. I could have used just one wrap layer, but I wanted to give the spiral a nice sturdy shell so that kids could easily take these to lunch and not find a mushy mashed up spiral by noon. The double bread worked very well-although it is optional.

Bullseye Spiral Wraps

By Kathy PatalskyPublished 08/21/2009
These super simple spiral wraps are a delicious, fast vegan lunch option! Try with a tortilla or lavash bread.

Ingredients

1 large tortilla or lavash bread
2-4 tablespoon vegan cream cheese
1-2 roasted red bell peppers, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice + olive oil, optional
**adding more veggies, optional — ProTip: I like to finely chop veggies and fold them into the cream cheese before spreading

Instructions

Warm up your wrap – lavash bread or tortilla.
Spread the cream cheese onto the wrap.
Add the bell pepper slices. Distribute evenly over the wrap. Add any additional veggies, but do not overfill things. Add the optional lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper over top the peppers.
Roll up the wrap tightly, into a spiral shape. No need to fold the edges as you would with a burrito – you will be slicing these! Slice into small sushi-shaped pieces. Serve!

Yield: 1-2 servingsPrep Time: 00 hrs. 05 mins. Cook time: 00 hrs. 02 mins. Total time: 7 mins. Tags: lunch,wrap,veggies,vegan,entree,sandwich,bell pepper,cream cheese,

Or try these step-by-step directions:

1. First prepare your Micro Veggie Cream Cheese. Recipe and instructions here. Set aside. You can even pre-make the cream cheese the night before so it is all ready for you to spread the next day.

2. Grab two whole wheat flat bread wraps. You can optionally toast/warm them over a gas burner or in the oven for a few minutes. This will bring out the flavor of the bread, but is not necessary.

3. Pour your olive oil and lemon juice into a bowl and brush one side of each wrap with a bit of the mixture.

4. Next, spread your cream cheese onto one wrap layer. Fill the entire wrap surface area, but leave about one inch of space at one end blank of cheese-this will assist in keeping all the filling inside when you roll the wrap.

5. Sprinkle the cheese with black pepper (optional).

6. Next, grab your other layer of bread and place (on the olive oil brushed side) your red pepper strips. You can use as many strips as you’d like.

7. Next, place the pepper-topped wrap right on top of the cream cheese wrap. Both faced filling-side-up. They should be perfectly aligned/stacked on top of each other, and you should have a dry outer side of the wrap facing downside on the bottom layer.

8. Roll it up!

9. Slice it up-carefully. A sharp knife comes in handy here.

10. Plate and serve! You can also just do one slice down the center and pack this as a burrito-style wrap. The spiral will still be seen in that first bite, but the full wrap can be more portable.