Veggie Pizza

I know when you think of Game Day Foods, you think of glistening meatballs, juicy chicken wings, the perfect crunch of potato chip to dip ratio and possibly even the greasy deliciousness of sliders. And then there is that one person who shows up with a veggie tray and throws off the whole feng shui of the snack table. But before you turn your nose up at this delectable veggie dish, be sure to grab a slice and try it before it's all gone!

Veggie Pizza has been a staple dish that has earned it's place on the appetizer table at all of my family's Game Days, birthdays, holiday parties, etc. you name it. My family looks forward to my mom's veggie pizza recipe and is totally bummed when we don't bring it. It is the perfect balance of healthy and snack food that everyone wants a piece, even our picky eaters. I myself could easily eat half of it on my own. It's so good, we never have to worry about taking leftovers home.

The best part about this dish is that it is super easy to make. So if your in need of a last minute dish, this would be perfect to take with you! Minimal prep work and near effortless assembly.

What You'll Need:

• a 9x13 inch baking pan
• spatula
• cutting board or food processor
• bowl
• cooking spray or butter
• knife
• spoon

Yup that's it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of croissant rolls
• 8 oz plain cream cheese (you can use low fat, but remember this is Game Day. We splurgin')
• 1 package of Powder Ranch Dip mix (Hidden Valley is the way to go)
• 1/2 cup mayo (whatever you have in the fridge will do just fine)
• 8 oz bag of finely shredded cheddar cheese (the finely shredded does make a difference, trust me)
• vegetables* (we usually only use carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower but you can add red or yellow peppers for an extra crunch and color variety or whatever else you might have handy)

Yeah, that's all of it.

Here's how you put it all together:

1. Preheat oven to the temperature recommended on the croissant package.
2. Liberally spray or grease your baking pan. The better you coat the sides (especially the corners) the better chances you have of easing the pieces out later for easy serving.
3. Now this is the most difficult step, after giving yourself a mini heart attack from the adult version of a Jack-n-the-Box, carefully pull the croissants out of the packing and unroll. This is very important! DO NOT PULL APART THE CROISSANTS. As one solid sheet, lay the croissant dough flat into the baking pan and gently press down to completely fill the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake croissants until fluffy and golden brown.
5. Set aside to cool.
6. While croissants are cooling, chop your vegetables. For a 9x13 pan I recommend roughly one cup of each (when I asked mom how much she uses she said until it looks right, so *shrugs* however thoroughly coated you'd like your veggie pizza). Depending on how large you would like the vegetable pieces to be, you can either roughly chop and dice them or put them in a food processor. (We usually use a food processor and create like a "vegetable crumble")
7. Set aside chopped veggies.
8. In a bowl, fold cream cheese, ranch dip mix (you probably won't have to use the whole package, add to taste or as mom says "until it looks right") and mayo until smooth. Evenly spread over croissants (if they have completely cooled).
9. Evenly spread veggies across top of cream cheese mixture.
10. Sprinkle cheese on top (again "until it looks right") and gently press down to compact all ingredients together. I recommend not adding the cheese until you are getting ready to serve it, otherwise if the cheese sits on it for too long it tends to get a bit moist and soggy.
11. Cut, serve and ENJOY!

If you've made it this far, I thank you for giving veggie pizza a chance. I promise you won't regret it! I'm sure your family and friends will love it just as much as mine and will come back for more.