By Wheeler Cowperthwaite

Now that we’re years beyond the pandemic and offices and schools are going back to in-person attendance, one question dominates my morning routine: What will I pack for lunch?

It’s the question that plagues everyone who goes to school or doesn’t work from home.

There are a lot of easy things to pack for a lunch: hummus (I make about two quarts at a time) and pita bread, rice bowls, pasta salad, or whatever leftovers there are in the house.

But sometimes you’ve got to up your game a little, or maybe gussy up your ingredients from two days ago and make them into something that looks or feels like something different.

For that, I find the wrap to be perfect. Buy some large flour tortillas at the store and use leftover grilled chicken, baked chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken. The carcass makes a great chicken soup in the pressure cooker, by the way.

You can go heavy on the veggies (because this is really about wraps, not about chicken), use any number of dips as seasoning, like hummus or tzatziki, and look like you’ve prepared something that’s come from a restaurant.

You can also make a wrap with chicken salad, making avocado the star of the show; steak, lunch meat (turkey, ham, bacon), and many of the basic dishes that you may have leftover.

Or, stuff it with regular salad, with some extras thrown in.

Moving in the opposite direction, possibly for picky eaters, fill that tortilla with ranch and cheese, in addition to the chicken, and have the chicken ranch wrap. Grill the tortilla for a few minutes on all sides, the cheese will melt and voíla! lunch is ready to be packed.

The recipe here is not all encompassing but rather, a series of suggestions for what to put in your wrap. Mix, match, use your leftovers, mix some more.

Chicken wraps

1 cooked chicken breast (grilled, baked, boiled), cut into bite-size pieces

1 tomato

Lettuce, spinach or other leafy mixture

1 large tortilla

Cheese

Cucumber

Peppers

Hummus (optional)

Avocado

Directions

Dice any vegetables to be used

Lay the tortilla on a flat surface

Place the sliced chicken in the middle of the tortilla and spread along the length. Add the desired vegetables, cheese, other additions and any seasoning spread, including salad dressing: hummus, tzatziki, or satay sauce.

Roll the tortilla with the ingredients and fold in the ends. Wrap in aluminum foil. Cut as necessary and pack.