The Bride Can Cook - Emily's Best Ever Tortilla Roll-Ups

These are our friends, Emily and Steve, who just got married on June 12. Beautiful bride, handsome groom, fun couple, lovely wedding = perfect day!

You may remember them from an earlier post when Grant and Kristen brought them down to Prairie Wood for a visit and they all made homemade pizza dough and pizzas in the brick oven. Kristen and Emily can roll out the most perfectly thin pizza dough I've ever seen, for the quintessential thin-and-crispy crust. The-thinnest-ever! We love thin and crispy pizza in our little corner of wonderful world of pizza, where every pizza is a good pizza -- some are just perfect!

Grant and Kristen also made a batch of Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip, which lead to Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip Pizza that we all loved -- especially Steve, who declared it the best pizza of the evening.

All four of them like getting together and cooking and eating and drinking a little wine and some of St. Louis' finest beer. I just love that! Kids who take time to cook and enjoy the best part of real food -- sharing it with good friends. I can't wait to see what they try next, now that Kristen is finished with her BSN night classes and Emily has her own kitchen and her own Kitchen-Aid mixer.

This is the four of them together for a picture at the rehearsal dinner. And yes, that would be Grant with a bow tie hanging around his neck -- a pink bow tie at that. No-fear fashion for my boy!

I wanted to post Emily's recipe for the classic party favorite -- Tortilla Roll-Ups -- because they are, without a doubt, the best I've ever tasted. She made them for Kristen's graduation last month and I had to have the recipe.

It turned out though, that the critical ingredient making these roll-ups so special was difficult to find around here. But since I make it a point to visit grocery stores when I travel to other places, I managed to find it last week in Cape Girardeau. Made the whole trip for Dean to see the oral surgeon worth it for me, just to find Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch Dip Mix! Gotta love it when there's an up side to visiting the oral surgeon. Although I'm not sure Dean was excited about the dentist or the dip mix.

So here's the recipe and trust me, the Hidden Valley makes the difference, and makes these Tortilla Roll-ups the best of the fast and easy appetizer genre.

Make them, if you can find the dip mix. They're cool and refreshing which is just what I want for summer parties. I'm thinking those green and red tortillas were another reason they were so good too. Just look what they did for Emily's presentation.

EMILY’S BEST EVER TORTILLA ROLL-UPS

2 8-ounce blocks cream cheese

1 package Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch Mix

1/2 small can of chopped black olives

1/2 small can of chopped green chiles

1 tablespoon chopped pimentos

pinch of chopped garlic (probably 1/2 to 1 clove)

dash of ground cayenne pepper (more if you like the heat)

2 packages large tortillas ( I use the Mission Spinach Tortillas and Sun Dried Tomato Tortillas—The Jalapeno ones are good too.)

I usually use about a spatula full of the mixture for each tortilla. Spread it over the whole tortilla and roll it up. Slice the rolled tortilla into ½ to ¾ inch slices and serve. These are great to make the day before, just keep them in an airtight container or ziploc, remove and cut when ready to serve!
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