A GF Caprese Wrap fit (or not-so-fit) for a Road Trip

Cook Rating: ★★★☆☆      Book Rating: ★★★★☆

 Hey Gluten-Free Friends! I hope you all are in full sweater weather mode, which of course means lots of blankets, good books, tea, and gluten-free baked goods! I'm personally not a fan of the cold weather, but the coziness that is involved with the autumn and winter seasons is certainly something I will never complain about. This week I started reading an exciting book under my favorite pink and white polka dot blanket while sipping green tea and eating gluten-free Trader Joe's mini cupcakes! I'm looking forward to blogging about it soon :). 

As for this week, I decided to blog about Paper Towns, by none other than Young Adult fiction master John Green. Paper Towns is a contemporary novel that centers around awkward and lovestruck protagonist Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and reckless manic-pixie-dream girl Margo Roth Spiegelman. Q falls in love with Margo as a child from basically the first second she moves onto his block. The pair are close friends as kiddos, but they grow into different social circles as teens. So, when Margo climbs into Q's bedroom window one night looking for help to get sweet revenge on all of those who wronged her (including her cheating boyfriend Jase), Q is shocked. This night is the night of Q's dreams, but his joy is short-lived because the next day Margo is gone. She literally skips town days before her high school graduation. Q spends the rest of the novel trying to follow clues Margo "left for him" to find her. This leads him and his ragtag group of friends on an epic road trip from their hometown in Orlando, FL to Upstate NY. Q finds Margo in a Paper Town known as Agloe, where she went to basically get away from the drama of high school. I gave the book 4 stars because I love its humor, plot line, and Green's writing style. What I do not like about it, however, is the ending. It is certainly not wrapped up neatly with a bow, which is probably the point. However, it just made me feel so sad for Q that I couldn't get past it.

Sooo... what is a paper town?  They are basically towns made up by mapmakers to avoid copyright issues. Put in a fake town and see it on another dude's map and you know he's a thief. The towns don't actually exist in real life, except for maybe a sign. Margo, the angsty teen that she is, finds metaphorical significance in hiding out in one of these towns.

To be completely honest, I probably would not have considered writing about this book, as I read it years ago and looking back on the story it is a little to angsty for my taste now. However, I just had to make a post because I happened to visit the paper town that is in the book (the town being just a sign on the side of the highway) on the way to visit my sister at her college in upstate New York! I had a feeling it was in the same general area as my sister's school, so my eyes were peeled for any hint at this green sign that says "Agloe General Store". All of a sudden, I saw the sign on the right side of the road, and I of course made my parents make a U-turn so I could get out and take a picture with the sign. I climbed over foot-high weeds and grass to get to this thing, and there were most definitely ticks in there, but I did not care in the slightest. There were even some footprints which means that other people pulled over to take the same picture. My mom stood there as proud as can be as my dad took my picture, because she is the one who made me the crazy book nerd that I am today. I am still sooo happy that I got to take a picture with this dumb sign, definitely one of the highlights of my school year so far 😂.

As for a Gluten-free food to pair with this book, I decided to make a wrap because it is quick and easy to take on the go; perfect for a road trip. I used ingredients typical in a caprese salad, because I love how those flavors and colors go together. However, once getting to the actual eating part of the wrap, it was definitely not suitable to be eaten in a car (thank goodness I didn't, I ate it at my desk at my internship). The entire wrap fell apart so I had to use a fork and knife to eat it. Although this did not change the flavors and it was still pretty yummy, in my opinion one of the best things about wraps is that you can just pick them up and shove them right into your mouth. I also messed up a little bit with this wrap because I made it the night before and put the olive oil and vinegar drizzle on way too early, so the arugula leaves were a little wilted and the whole wrap seemed pretty oily throughout. If you make this wrap, I highly recommend putting the dressing on closer to the time you are actually going to eat it. I gave the wrap 3 stars because of the wrap falling apart and the dressing issues. It still tasted good though and I would recommend making it with a different wrap brand than what I used! 

A Paper Towns Gluten-Free Wrap

Ingredients

1 gluten free wrap (I got mine at Trader Joes but I would get a different brand!)

1 piece of grilled chicken, sliced

1/2 of a tomato, cut any way you want

1/3 of a mozzarella ball, cut any way you want

Handful of Arugula

Olive Oil

Vinegar

Ground Pepper

Salt

Directions

1. Grill and slice piece of grilled chicken.

2. Cut up tomato, mozzarella.

3. Evenly spread out arugula on wrap.

4. On top of arugula, evenly disperse chicken, mozzarella, and tomato.

5. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar on top.

6. Add a dash of ground pepper and salt.

That's all for now!

xoxo,

Mary 💖

"What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person"

-Q

John Green, Paper Towns