Meat and Veggie Wrap: A Healthy Snack for Any Time!

I've been thinking about posting this snack idea for a little while now, but Lynn over at Lynn's Weigh  helped me get my ass in gear with it.

 "Last week, we learned Uncle Bonehead (as he calls himself to his nieces and nephews) has a lesion in the hippocampus region of his brain. Marty has suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy for 40 years. Three weeks ago he had a severe seizure and is still experiencing some amnesia caused by the lesion. His neurologist outlined his recovery plan on Friday and one of the laundry list of line items is to clean up his diet."

She has asked her readers for recipe ideas for healthy meals and snacks to help with this venture, and I think I have a great item that they might like: Meat and Veggie Wraps.

I originally got this idea from a good family friend. I've changed it up a tad but the recipe is pretty basic to begin with; all you need is three ingredients:

• 6 slices thin-sliced deli meat. Any type will do as long as it roles easily (2 slices per log)
• 3-6 Tbs Cream cheese. I use whipped here because it's fewer calories per serving for the same great cheesy taste. It also spreads A LOT easier than regular cream cheese, but if you're going with the regular or low-fat stuff, make sure to let it sit at room temp for a while or you'll probably end up trying to drop kick it in frustrated retaliation. 
• Pickled Asparagus. Oh love of my life, how thy tangy stalks taste so damn good. These can be substituted for pretty much any veggie you like, just keep them thin so that you can roll the meat up easily. I usually keep it in the pickled veggie variety because the tangy of the pickle goes well with the cream cheese. 

Place two pieces of deli meat on the counter (or clear cutting board in this case) slightly overlapping each other.

Spread one to two Tbs of cream cheese over the meat (that's right you slippery meat you, have fun trying to repel the whipped goodness Mwahahahhaaaa!! .......*clears throat* moving on.) then place your veggie pieces slightly off center length-wise over the top. 

Fold one of the long sides up over the veggie(s) and finish rolling till you have a nifty stogie shaped snack of meaty heaven.

You don't have to, but I always cut the stogie into pieces for easy nomming and storage. The ends of the log are almost always lost causes so I trim them and chalk them up as chef nibbles. 

These are also great for party trays (where I first ran into them), and you can completely personalize them with whatever meat, cheese or spice(s) you want!

If you have any recipe ideas to help Lynn and her brother out feel free to head over to her blog at Lynn's Weigh, and if you have any variations of the meat and veggie wraps that you have or want to try please feel free to tell!