Chilled Veggie Pizza

My husband has been saying for some time now that he was craving Veggie Pizza the way his mom makes. I had it a few times, but it's not something I grew up on the way he did, so I never made it myself.

Luckily, it's beyond simple! Unlike the sort of hot cheesy pizza I am familiar with, this is a cold blend of flatbread, cream cheese and fresh raw veggies that makes for a fantastic dish a hot summer day or a quick throw together for any get together.  Cut into small portions, it makes a great appetizer.

Chilled Veggie Pizza

Ingredients

2 Pillsbury crescent dough tubes
2 8oz bricks softened cream cheese
1 packet Ranch Dressing mix
1 head of broccoli
1 head of Cauliflower
1 bell pepper, any color
2 cups shredded carrot
1 small white or red onion
2 cups crumbled bacon (Optional)
2 cups finely shredded cheese

Roll the crescent dough out flat, in one baking sheet if possible, or separately, if necessary. Pinch the seams to create the bottom crust. Bake according to dough tube. Ideally, this will happen earlier in the day, letting it cool before assembling, however we forgot to do that and as it was dinner time, so we pushed on. It was still fantastic!

While baking dough (or later if you let it cool, which you should), mix the softened cream cheese blocks with packet of ranch powder, creating a delicious sauce for the pizza.

Spread the cream cheese evenly across the cooled crust.

Make sure all your veggies are diced to bite size. The smaller the better in my opinion!

There is no correct order for the veggies, so pile it on!  The veggies listed are my mother-in-law's traditional choices, but of course you can add, subtract or replace to suit your own preferences.

While it is perfectly reasonable to leave this completely vegetarian friendly, we just happened to have about 8 strips of bacon left over from breakfast that crumbled beautifully with all the fresh product. I highly recommend this addition.

Lastly, sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.

This is best served chilled, without a doubt. However, we were already ready to sit down to eat, so eat we did! No regrets here...