Vegan Spanish Pinwheels

I've been meaning to post this since Saturday, but one thing led to another and I just never got around to it. The ugly sweater party didn't go as planned. BJ and I got to eat a lot more of the food than we had expected. Good thing for our taste buds, not so good for our waistlines. These pinwheels are addicting. You could try making your own cream cheese and sour cream. The recipe I have for your today uses the store bought kind to make it an easy-peasy recipe to throw together for a party. I baked a lot of cookies, so a quick and easy appetizer was so necessary!

This recipe originally came from one of my Spanish classes in high school. We had a project where we had to find a recipe using Spanish ingredients, type it up in Spanish and English, and make it for the class to taste. This was a standout recipe that I don't believe to be authentic at all, but who cares, it's delicious! (If you use Target Cartwheel, a few of the ingredients are currently on there. Yay saving!)

When I went vegan, this was one of the first recipes that I veganized for a small crafternoon that  I held. It is pretty straightforward- just replacing dairy ingredients with non-dairy ones. The only thing that stumped me was the ranch dressing mix because I couldn't find a packet one that didn't contain some form of animal. Cue Internet. I've tried a few different recipes from the Internet. Some of them are too garlicky and some too salty. The last one that I used worked for me. It's great because you make up a good sized batch of it and store it in a jar so it's ready to use the next time you need it.

Vegan Spanish Pinwheels

Ingredients:

10 Flour Tortillas
8 oz vegan cream cheese, softened
1 (4 oz) can of green chiles
1 (4 oz) can of chopped black olives
1 (2 oz) jar of pimientos
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons ranch dressing mix

• ¼ cup dried parsley
• 4 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 4 teaspoons onion powder
• 4 teaspoons dried onion flakes
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions:

1. Make up your ranch dressing mix by mixing all ingredients together and store in an airtight glass container.

2. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, olives, pimientos, chiles, cheddar cheese, and 2 teaspoons of ranch dressing mix together in a large bowl.

3. Spread thinly onto tortilla, covering completely.

4. Roll up tightly. Repeat until you have used all of the spread.

5. Chill at least one hour.

6. Slice into thin pinwheels- about 8 slices per roll.

Makes about 80 portions.

I must confess, I hate olives. They make me gag- so I omit this from my recipe, but I thought I'd include it because there are people who don't hate olives. Also, it tastes fine with or without the cheese as well. This time that I made it, I didn't have a whole cup of cheese on hand. I used up the rest of a block of Daiya jack.

So there you have it, a quick and easy crowd pleaser. Happy Holidays!