Vegetable Pizza - holiday appetizer

 

Christmas is less than two weeks away, so I wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday recipes this week. 

Vegetable pizza is something I can remember having at holiday parties when I was a kid.   This is not a hot pizza, as it is served cold or at room temperature.  It's also not something you can only eat at the holidays, but the beautiful colors make it a festive appetizer for a holiday party or get-together.  Plus it's a light, fresh food choice to help balance out all of the sweets and rich food on your holiday spread.

I've seen several versions of recipes for this pizza.  I just took the ingredients that I knew were in it when I was a kid and came up with measurements to make it taste like I remember it.  This appetizer would be great for a Christmas or New Year's party!

Ingredients:
2 cans of crescent rolls
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. sour cream
1 small packet of ranch dry dressing
2 tbs. dried dill
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag of fresh mixed vegis (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), chopped
one green pepper, diced
one red pepper, diced
1 pack of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small can of sliced black olives

Directions:
Spray baking sheets with nonstick spray.  Unroll crescent dough onto the pan, so it looks like a pizza crust.  I prefer to buy the crescent roll dough that isn't precut into rolls. In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, ranch and dill until well blended.  Once dough is baked and cooled, spread cream cheese mixture onto the baked dough. Top with shredded cheese and vegis.

Notes:
This recipe makes two pizzas, as an appetizer for a small crowd.  If I make this for just my small family, I divide the recipe in half.  When I only make half of this recipe, I will end up with extra vegis, but I use the extra vegis for a different meal the next day (usually a stir fry or a salad).