{cold veggie pizza}

i relish in taking the "scenic way" home on a warm, breezy afternoon...or tackling a lofty craft project...or making a 5-hour chili and licking the bowl with complete satisfaction.

but let's get real here. i also love a good shortcut.

in honor of late summer- and one of the prettiest days we've had all month -i thought i'd share a quick and easy appetizer. most of you have seen adaptations of this before...it's straight-forward and contains simple ingredients. it's the perfect shortcut when you need a snack or an easy, no-thinking-required recipe. *to my sister, katie. i think you could even handle this!*

cold veggie pizza

ingredients: 

• 1 pillsbury thin crust pizza dough (found near the cookie dough and crescent rolls)

• 1 cup broccoli florets, chopped
• 1 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup carrots (cheaters like me will buy the pre-cut carrot slivers)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice
• other tasty toppings – any other color bell pepper / cauliflower florets / olives (if you don’t think they taste like dirty socks, like i do)

• 8 oz. brick of cream cheese (i prefer the reduced fat variety)
• approximately ½ cup – 1 cup of mayo or sour cream (plain greek yogurt probably works well too). you just need some creamy dairy to make the cream cheese silky.
• 1 pack of dry ranch mix to taste. you may not need the entire packet. (i buy the harvest dill variety…if you buy plain mix, maybe add fresh dill to your toppings list!)

step-by-step:

• let your cream cheese sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. just let it soften and do its thing.
• bake one pillsbury thin crust pizza dough on a large baking sheet (follow package instructions for baking…it takes a little practice to roll the dough out evenly into a large rectangle). sometimes i brush a little olive oil on top before it goes in the oven. it makes me feel gourmet.
•  while the dough bakes, chop up your veggies.

• take your pizza crust out of the oven (stop to admire your work) and let it cool for a solid10-15 minutes.
• while it’s cooling, whip up your ranch mixture.
• spread the cheesy ranch mixture across the dough and top with veggies and cheese (lighten press all the toppings down with your clean hands to get everything to stick!)
• cut into single servings.

*i also cheated and borrowed all these images from google*