15-Minute Mini Veggie Pizzas

Let's get real for a moment, shall we?  After several failed attempts over the past few months, I have come to accept that I cannot make a pizza crust from scratch to save my life.  And if we allow ourselves to get even more real... who wants to make a pizza crust from scratch anyways when my local natural foods store sells perfectly awesome whole-grain flatbreads?  Especially when these perfectly awesome whole-grain flatbreads look mighty cute as the crust for mini pizzas.

I almost hesitate to call this a recipe because it's so easy, fast, and adaptable, but isn't that what a recipe should be?  Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees.  Lay your flatbreads (or pitas) out on a sheet pan and top with marinara sauce.  Bonus points for you if you have some homemade basil pesto or garlic scape pesto hanging around in your freezer.  Both of these can be used in place of marinara or mixed in with it.

Next, sauté some minced garlic, green bell peppers, and maybe some mushrooms in a little olive oil for about three minutes.  Add the veggies atop your marinara or pesto.

Then top with some other favorite veggies like red onions or broccoli (these don't need to be precooked). Finally, sprinkle with some fresh or dried herbs as desired.  Maybe some red chili pepper flakes if you're feeling zesty.  Bake for 6 - 10 minutes (until the flatbread/pita is cripsy). 

And there you have it... easy peasy veggie pizzas!

It seems silly to me to write out a full recipe for this, so here are some guidelines for those of you that like a more structure: 

• Any flatbread or pita should work as a crust. 
• The cooking time varies depending on what you put atop your pizza. If you have a lot of sauce or toppings, expect it to take 8 - 10 minutes to crisp up.
• I'm not sure what the "proper" portion size should be, but I needed two mini pizzas for my meal.
• It doesn't take a lot of veggies to fill these up pretty quick.  I could fit about 1/3 cup of veggies per pizza. 
• The smaller the veggies are chopped, the quicker the cooking time. (And the easier it is to fit the pizza in your mouth.)
• This is the perfect way to use up leftovers in the fridge.  Got some random extra veggies hanging around?  Toss 'em on the pizza!
• These pizzas are meant to be quick and easy for weeknight dinners, but if you want to make it even easier for yourself: prep your veggies ahead of time so everything is already chopped and ready to go.  Then when dinner time comes, simply assemble and bake!