This recipe is inspired by a prepared food I picked up at Whole Foods, a large health food store grocery chain, the other day. I was out running errands, which always runs later than I think it's going to, so I needed to pick something up to eat. Rather than choose from any number of restaurants that might have had something halfway healthy, I decided I didn't want to compromise - tonight, I wanted something healthy that didn't have anything that wasn't nourishing.

A difficult challenge, to say the least. It seems these days, even the health food has something objectionable in it. But I managed to find some interesting looking wraps. They looked like huge pieces of sushi, only instead of rice it was raw spinach, instead of fish it was an assortment of vegetables and instead of seaweed, it was wrapped in a tortilla. It looked delicious. And it was.

Recipe for Raw Spinach and Hummus Pinwheel after the jump.


Raw Spinach and Hummus Pinwheel

Bunch of baby spinach, washed and dried
A carrot or two, shredded
Half a cucumber or so, shredded
A stick or two of celery, shredded
A couple of scoops of your favourite hummus
A red pepper, cut into strips
A small handful of cilantro, washed and picked
A few portabello mushroom caps, cooked and sliced into strips (optional)
A few whole grain tortillas
Half a lemon, squeezed (optional)
Olive oil (optional)

Lay out the tortillas and spread on the hummus. Lay on the spinach followed by the other vegetables, leaving a little bit of space at the side closest to you and the side furthest from you (this will make it easier to roll). Roll up the tortillas nice and tight.
Once rolled, slice the tortillas in 4 or 5 even rounds. Turn the newly created rounds so they're flat on a plate (notice how they look like a pinwheel?).
I like to sprinkle on some lemon juice and olive oil over them at this point, otherwise it can be a little dry. The best part about this recipe is that, other than being quick and super-easy, it's infinitely customizable. And you can eat 'em with your fingers! (which the kids will love).


The Healthy Foodie is Doug DiPasquale, Holistic Nutritionist and trained chef, living in Toronto. You can email him with questions at dugdeep@gmail.com.