We spent Thanksgiving in the mountains with my mom’s brother and his family for a number of years when I was growing up. I remember lots of food and football, long walks through crunchy leaves, and nights of watching movies and combing my cousins’ long, silky hair. They both are more than 10 years older than me and I worshiped them. Still do, to be honest. My mom and I would make these easy vegetable squares together for everyone to snack on while we watched football in the middle of the day and they were such a hit! I mean, just look at them - total swoon! This recipe is basically a cold veggie pizza appetizer. So colorful, so fun and so pretty. It’s also a great way to get kids to eat their veggies. And kids can definitely get involved and help mix the cheese spread and sprinkle the veggies and extra cheese on top. But just a heads up – these can be messy to eat! The toppings can scatter as you’re chowing down if you’re not paying attention. Little ones should be seated, for sure. OK, let’s get cooking! Now, I’ve got some notes and tips coming up below on how to make vegetable pizza squares. Just tryin’ to be helpful. If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.
Recipe Notes:
Vegetables: Pick your favorite mix of veggies for the veggie toppings: broccoli, cauliflower, green and/or red bell pepper, tomato, carrots, green onion or black olives all work great here. Seasonings: I’ve revised the original recipe a bit to avoid the packaged buttermilk dressing mix. Instead I’ve subbed other spices to get the same flavor, but you could certainly swap back and use the packet if you’d like. You’ll need one teaspoon of it and you can skip the parsley flakes, onion flakes and garlic salt in the recipe below. Crescent rolls: You could make your own crescent rolls, but I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t go that far. I’m all about the homemade, but I definitely went for the kind in the can here. Storage: These are best enjoyed the first 2 days after they are made. Extras can be refrigerated and saved for later, but the bread layer softens after those first couple of days. (See my note below on how to heat these up for a different snack later in the week!)
Finally, you can definitely prep this ahead and have it ready to go. After all, you want to enjoy the game, the party, the holidays or whatever you’ve got going on. No fun being stuck in the kitchen! I’d suggest not making it more than 24 hours ahead though so the bread on the bottom doesn’t get too soft. But if you’ve got leftovers later in the week, here’s how you can wake them up. I put a few squares (or a whole pan if you’ve got that many) in a toaster oven and broil them for just a couple minutes. It gets the bread nice and toasty and the cheese and veggies melt down into it, making it a mini hot veggie pizza. Delicious! Holidays or not, I hope you give these easy vegetable squares a try. They are sure to be a hit! Enjoy! XO, Kathryn P.S. My family’s old fashioned stuffed mushrooms are another classic appetizer to have if you need to round out your spread! Vegetables: Pick your favorite mix of veggies for the veggie toppings: broccoli, cauliflower, green and/or red bell pepper, tomato, carrots, green onion or black olives all work great here. Seasonings: I’ve revised the original recipe a bit to avoid the packaged buttermilk dressing mix. Instead I’ve subbed other spices to get the same flavor, but you could certainly swap back and use the packet if you’d like. You’ll need one teaspoon of it and you can skip the parsley flakes, onion flakes and garlic salt in the recipe below. Crescent rolls: You could make your own crescent rolls, but I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t go that far. I’m all about the homemade, but I definitely went for the kind in the can here. Storage: These are best enjoyed the first 2 days after they are made. Extras can be refrigerated and saved for later, but the bread layer softens after those first couple of days.
