Festive Friends Friday: Zucchini Roll-Ups!

I originally made these cute appetizers last year for a girl's night and I gotta say, they were a hit! These would be a perfect party treat for any occasion. I received the inspiration from a recipe over at Freshdreamer. The wonderful thing about their recipe is that they use cashews in place of my cream cheese spread, so if you're vegan make sure to check out their version. I tweaked it a little to suit my tastes: cream cheese (of course), slightly different veggies, and extra avocado! Yummm.

Ingredients

1 bulb garlic
1 block cream cheese, softened
2 scallions, chopped
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
4 - 5 medium zucchini
2 carrots, julienned (sliced into matchsticks)
1 large red bell pepper, julienned
4 radishes, sliced
1 cucumber, julienned
2 avocados, sliced
bunch alfalfa sprouts

Directions
For the cream cheese spread:

• Preheat the oven to 400.
• Cut off the top of the bulb of garlic so the cloves are slightly exposed. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and roast in the oven for 40 minutes, then remove and let cool enough to handle. 
• Once the garlic is cool, squish out the cloves from their papery shells. Mix garlic together with the softened cream cheese, scallions, cayenne, salt and pepper.

For the roll-ups:

• Chop the ends off zucchini and use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to very thinly slice them, lengthwise, into long strips.
• Lay a zucchini strip flat and spread a spoonful of cream cheese mixture evenly over the surface.
• Next, layer the julienned and sliced vegetables on top of the cream cheese. Top with sprouts.
• Tightly roll up and lay seam-side down to settle.