Guilt-Free... Sunday? Muffaletta Pinwheels

Here I go again, dropping the ball!  Only I REALLY dropped it this time, not getting around to posting a recipe until SUNDAY!  Sorry everyone!  Especially since this time I'm posting an awesome finger food for gatherings or family functions.  I'm sure you all have some sort of gathering, and you're probably at it right now, wishing you had brought an awesome finger food to "wow" the guests.  If only Jami hadn't dropped the ball.  Again, sorry!  There's still tomorrow and Christmas day, you still have time!

I don't know if this can be classified as "guilt-free", although I'm sure you could make a few alterations to make it fit the bill.  But it's not entirely bad for you - it could be way worse.  And it's soooooooooooooo gooooooooooooood.

Seriously.

Like, my favorite thing about this recipe is that it creates scraps on the ends when you're cutting the pinwheels, and someone has to eat them, because they're not pretty enough to serve... So I end up stuffing myself with the end scraps, or Justin and I end up fighting over who gets the last one...

This is based off of the New Orleans sandwich, the muffaletta, which I thought I wouldn't like since it has black and green olives on it, and I really don't care for olives, but wow is that a good sandwich.  The pinwheel is a variation of it - same ingredients, minus the bread (obviously) and adding cream cheese.  Everyone who's eaten these and normally doesn't care for olives either agreed that they're pretty awesome.  So if you don't like olives either, don't worry, I'm sure you won't be sorry if you make these.

I'm also going to include some good tips for making pinwheels, since I was once pinwheel-challenged and I've gained a bit of confidence now (mainly because I've made like a thousand of these...).  They're tricky little guys...

One of the best tips is remembering to keep it thin.  Spread thin layers, thin sliced meats and cheese, thin thin thin.  Once you roll it you've got all those thin layers working together to make a perfect combination of flavor, and it's waaaaay easier and less messy to roll them when everything's in thin layers, too.

Alright, here we go!

Muffaletta Pinwheels

8 flour tortillas

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano

1 4.25oz can chopped black olives
~3/4 10oz jar green olives, chopped (I fail to measure things so I'm giving you my closest guess)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp olive oil

32 thin slices salami
32 thin slices ham
16 thin slices provelone cheese

• Combine the cream cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano.  This will give you a great forearm workout if you do it by hand! :-P
• Chop the green olives (I wish they came chopped like black olives do, but I've not been able to find that option...) and open the can of black olives.  Seriously the chopped black olives are so gross looking... bleh.  This is not the most appetizing part of the process.  Please don't loose faith!
• Mix the olives, parmesan cheese, oregano and Italian seasoning, and olive oil in a separate bowl.

• Spread some of the cream cheese mixture on a tortilla (remember, you're making 8 of these, so make sure you save enough!).  And keep it thin!  You'll be thanking yourself when it comes time to roll!
• Spread an eighth of the olive mixture on the cream cheese spread.  Here's another tip: only spread the olive mixture on a little more than 3/4 of the tortilla - leave an inch or two as open cream cheese on the bottom.  This makes rolling easier, too.

•  Place four slices of ham on top of the olive mixture, again leaving space at the bottom.  I hope you had your deli slice them thin!!
• Place four slices of salami on top of the ham.
• Place two slices of provelone cheese on top of the salami.  I tore one slice in half and placed it on either side of a whole slice - it fit on the tortilla easier.  See the picture for a visual:

• Now roll.  Start on the end that has all the goodies on it and roll toward the end that you left empty.  Roll TIGHT.  Once you start rolling, all your goodies are going to start to squeeze down toward the empty end, and you'll be glad you didn't put any ingredients down there or they'll all be oozing out the end!

• Wrap your muffaletta burrito (what a nice joining of cultures!) in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour or so.

• Slice at 45 degree angles and serve!  And enjoy those end scraps as you go, provided no family members are lurking waiting to steal them from you! 

Now, off to the Heidel family Christmas party!  Hope you all enjoy the holidays!!