I've been making this appetizer that delivers the dip, the vegetables and bread base all in one bite since my nieces and nephews were really little and actually dove in eating all the vegetables.

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I thought I had put this on Foodie Friday before but couldn't find it.  My apologies if I've posted this before. It's great for football parties or any kind of gathering where you want to impress people without too much effort!

Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
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Vegetable Dip "Pizza" (Prep. time about 20 minutes of knife-work and assembly, less if you buy pre-chopped vegetables.  Serves: a LOT!)

1 Boboli bread shell

1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened & at room temperature

1 C. (8oz) sour cream

1 pkg. Ranch Dip mix

colorful vegetables finely diced or broken into small pieces. Here's what I used either bought pre-diced or that I cut up myself:

4 florets each of broccoli & cauliflower, broken into teeny stalks

4 baby carrots

1/2 half each green pepper & yellow pepper

4 stalks green onion

1 plum tomato, de-seeded and finely diced

1/2 can or less of sliced black olives

Chop all the vegetables and set aside. Combine cream cheese and sour cream getting out as many lumps as you can.  Stir in dip mix.  Spread evenly on the bread shell, right up to the very edge. Evenly sprinkle the chopped vegetables over the top.  I take into consideration the color palate. Since the dip is white, the cauliflower would be lost if you put those on first so I start with the green and yellow bell pepper, broccoli, then the cauliflower and green onion before adding in the really bright accent color vegetables: the carrots, tomato and, finally, sparingly scatter the black olives (since a lot of people don't like them).  You can press the vegetables lightly down into the dip. Cover loosely with wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour to let it firm up a little and make it a little easier to cut.  You can use a pizza wheel, long knife or mezzaluna knife to cut the appetizer into 1 inch squares. The pizza wheel is the messiest while the mezzaluna is best if it is a really big one. Otherwise, go for the really long knife to cut the "pizza" into individual servings.

You can have fun for special occasions or football games by selecting vegetables in specific colors. For example: red and green bell pepper, tomato and cauliflower to make the Italian flag for Columbus Day (or Christmas) or carrots, orange and green bell pepper for St. Patrick's Day, orange, black and a little green for Halloween?

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