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Create Your Own Reduced-Fat Wrappers

Bev Bennett Los Angeles Times

Wrappers are the best thing to happen to sandwiches since … well, since sliced bread. No more bits of vegetables falling into your lap, because with a wrapper the filling is contained in a neat flatbread package.

You’ve no doubt seen wrappers at gourmet carry-out stores and such fast-food restaurants as Taco Bell and Wendy’s.

Unfortunately, even though a wrapper may look wholesome to you - less doughy, more vegetables - it can be every bit as high in calories and fat as a traditional sandwich, according to a recent report in the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter.

If you’re having a vegetable wrapper because it’s more nutritious than a burger, you could be making the wrong choice. But smart cooks can have convenience at a fraction of the calories and fat by making their own, particularly by using reduced-fat mayonnaise and cream cheese.

Start with a flour tortilla - preferably whole-wheat, which has more dietary fiber - and add a spread. If you don’t like the taste of low-fat mayonnaise or cream cheese, flavor them with herbs and spices. To create bulk without the calories, use a high proportion of vegetables to meat.

Then, follow the trick the professionals use, and foil-wrap the sandwich to let the flavors blend and help the tortilla hold its shape.

You’re all set for a quick picnic meal that won’t get a bad rap.

Salmon Wrappers

2 (8-inch) flour tortillas

1/4 cup chive-flavored cream cheese, softened (see note)

4 ounces smoked salmon

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium tomato, cored and thinly sliced

2 large lettuce leaves

Place tortillas, 1 at a time, on flat work surface. Spread each with half of the cream cheese, spreading to edges. Arrange half of salmon over each.

Separate onion slices into rings and scatter half of rings over each, then half of tomato slices. Place 1 lettuce leaf on top to hold everything down. Gently roll each tortilla into a cone.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (with regular cream cheese): 319 calories, 15.1 grams fat (43 percent fat calories), 17 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrate, 44 milligrams cholesterol, 703 milligrams sodium.

Note: Use low-fat or fat-free cream cheese as desired.

Turkey Wrappers

2 teaspoons chopped crystallized ginger root, or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3 tablespoons mayonnaise (see note)

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

2 (8-inch) flour tortillas

4 ounces thinly sliced cooked turkey-breast meat

1 small avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

2 large lettuce leaves

Combine ginger, mayonnaise and curry powder in cup. Spread half the flavored mayonnaise over each tortilla, leaving a 1-inch border clear at the edges. Arrange half of turkey meat over mayonnaise.

Top each with half of avocado slices. Place 1 lettuce leaf on top to hold everything down. Gently roll each tortilla into a cone.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (with regular mayonnaise): 447 calories, 31.3 grams fat (63 percent fat calories), 18 grams protein, 26 grams carbohydrate, 35 milligrams cholesterol, 1,104 milligrams sodium.

Note: Use low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise as desired.