Cold Veggie Pizza

This is a refreshing twist on regular pizza. It's made fresh and served cold. It's also a great way to get plenty of vegetable servings in one sitting. If smaller children are going to be eating it, you might want to try softer vegetables over hard to chew ones like broccoli or carrots.
Also, this recipe is a longer time investment than some. You might want to prepare the cream cheese base, crust, and veggies earlier in the day and chill until you're ready to assemble your pizza.

Cold Veggie Pizza

• Pre-made and chilled whole wheat pizza crust (see recipe below) (or buy ready-made)
• Garlic-cream cheese base (see recipe below)
* cold chicken or pepperoni, diced (if desired)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup each of the following veggies (cut into small pieces):
carrots, sprouts (uncut), celery, tomatoes, broccoli, red onions, red cabbage, jalapeños, red or green peppers, fresh spinach, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, any other veggies you love or can think of!

1. Spread cream cheese base onto chilled crust. Add veggies (and meat) to your desire. Cut carefully and serve right away!

Cream Cheese Base
1 pkg. light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced, dried onion
2 tsp. oregano
1/8 tsp. red (cayenne) pepper
1/8 tsp. lemon pepper
3 Tbsp. milk

Process in a food processor or with a hand mixer until well blended and smooth. Chill until ready to use.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
7/8 cup warm water (literally)
1 package dry yeast
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil

1. Put the water in a 2 cup measuring cup. Add the yeast and sugar and stir. Let sit for 3 minutes until foamy.
2. Put the metal blade in the bowl of a food processor, add the flour and salt, and pulse to mix. Stir the yeast mixture, turn on the machine, and slowly pour the mixture into the feed tube while the machine is running. Process until a ball of dough forms. Add the oil, then process for 40 seconds to knead the dough. Pull the dough out and knead on a lightly covered surface for about 5 minutes more.
3. Put the dough in a bowl that has been oiled lightly with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth. Put in a warm place and leave it until double in size, about 45 minutes – 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
5. Punch the dough down, flatten it out onto a pan sprinkled with cornmeal (or you can cook on a pizza stone.) Cook for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. The dough will cook fairly quickly, so keep an eye on it. Chill until ready to use.