This past Saturday, we had a little gathering at my home to say so long to Philip Moulden, who is retiring from the Daily Journal at the end of this week after more than 16 years of service.

When Philip started here, I was the news editor and on maternity leave. He was hired as a staff writer to cover Lee County government, as I recall, although through the years he would also come to write about Tupelo city government. He has spent the last five or so years on the copydesk designing pages for the newspaper.

I asked those attending the weekend soiree to bring a heavy hors d’oeuvre to share. Of course, I had no idea what I was preparing until the last minute.

Because we are in the process of redoing a bathroom at our house, everything is kind of topsy-turvy right now and tempers are short, to say the least.

So I needed something I could put together quickly that didn’t need to be coddled or babied or stirred at the last minute. That’s when I remembered this recipe for Cream-Cheese Beef Tortillas.

Susan McGukin at Lee County Extension gave me this recipe in 2002 when I was going through Master Gardener training in Verona. Susan made them one day for us to snack on while we were trapped in a classroom for four hours at a stretch.

I put them together Friday night and cut them into squares about an hour before guests arrived Saturday. Several people asked for the recipe, so here it is.

And while these little appetizers were very good, they were not the star of the show.

That would have been Philip, who will be missed.

Cream-Cheese Beef Tortillas

12 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces sour cream

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 jar dried beef, chopped

4 to 5 green onions, chopped

6 (10-inch) flour tortillas

Combine first five ingredients (cream cheese through onions). Spread a thin layer (one-fourth of the mixture) onto each of four of the tortillas. Then make two stacks as such: a tortilla with mixture, covered with a tortilla with mixture and topped with a plain tortilla. (Each stack will have three tortillas and two layers of cream-cheese filling.) Refrigerate for two to three hours or overnight. Cut into 1-inch squares. Reserve the extra strips cut from the sides for snacking.

Ginna Parsons is the Daily Journal’s food/home/garden editor.