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Wrap Up Taste With Fewer Calories

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2008

A California wrap is a smart meal for people watching their weight, but pay attention to the trimmings piled on that turkey.

For example, Food Network's California Wrap features vegetables and turkey, but the calories add up fast thanks to flour tortillas, avocado, a rich ranch dressing and lots of bacon. That's 876 calories and 56 fat grams. Ordering a double cheeseburger plus small fries from McDonald's would save you 187 calories and 18 fat grams.

However, some simple changes can put this sandwich in a dieter's reach without sacrificing taste. This California Wrap keeps some bacon, avocado and a slimmer ranch dressing while shaving off 64 percent of the calories and 71 percent of the fat.

Choosing low-carb tortillas in place of flour tortillas saves 168 calories per serving, leaving room in this wrap for some avocado.

The original ranch dressing in this wrap also needed a makeover because just the mayonnaise in that recipe loaded 200 calories into each serving. This ranch dressing uses a mix of buttermilk, fat-free milk, light mayonnaise and light sour cream to maintain the flavor of regular ranch while cutting the dressing's calories by 79 percent and slashing the fat by 86 percent.

The original wrap calls for bacon, and we didn't want to leave it out, but we trimmed calories by picking center-cut bacon and using two bacon slices in each wrap instead of three.

This wraps weighs in at 314 calories and 16.5 grams of fat.

CALIFORNIA WRAP

4 low-carb, low-fat tortillas

12 trimmed leaves of red or green leaf lettuce, washed and dried

12 ounces oven-roasted, fat-free turkey breast

8 center-cut bacon slices, cooked

1 medium tomato, cored chopped

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 16 slices

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 cup arugula

1/2 cup of Ranch Dressing (recipe follows)

Salt and pepper to taste

Toss the avocado slices in the lime juice and set aside.

Wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave on high for 45 to 60 seconds. Lay the tortillas flat on a cutting board.

For each wrap, fan three lettuce leaves on the top three-quarters of each tortilla, then layer 3 ounces of turkey on top, followed by 2 slices of bacon, 1/4 of the chopped tomato and four avocado slices. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the arugula and 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing.

Fold up the bottom quarter of the tortilla and then start to roll each sandwich into a cone shape. Secure each wrap with a toothpick and serve immediately.

Per serving: 314 calories, 16.5 fat grams, 1,619 milligrams sodium, 25 carb grams, 12 fiber grams, 22 protein grams

RANCH DRESSING

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup fat-free milk

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1/2 cup light sour cream

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Makes about 2 cups.

Per 2-tablespoon serving: 44 calories, 3.3 carb grams, 202 milligrams sodium, 3.1 fat grams.

The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle

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