Very Veggie Puff Pastry Pizza Bites

Fresh and preserved veggies top this vegetarian puff pastry pizza bite.

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Welcome to my final recipe for #AppetizerWeek! I've had fun, learned a lot of html and a wee bit of social media-ing, and watched the laundry pile up [and the snow, and the emails] while sharing savory appetizers and wicked cool giveaways alongside a terrific group of bloggers. If you're just tuning in for your usual Farm Fresh Feasts Friday Pizza you will not be disappointed--this is a tasty lil' morsel of artichokes, olives, spinach and caramelized onions topped with goat cheese on a roasted garlic oil-brushed puff pastry base. It's pretty easy to fix for a game day appetizer spread, though I'd offer napkins and plates to eat it from since the puff pastry is deliciously flaky [carefully avoids comparing anyone I know to the pizza].

I believe in offering choices for everyone I'm feeding [unless you're my kid and want cake or cookies for breakfast. Then there is no choice but cookies "No"].  I usually fix pizza for my family on Friday night, and frequently I make two pies so everyone has a choice.  Since I shared Pickled Pepper and Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pinwheel Pizza Palooza yesterday, I thought I'd conclude my contributions to #AppetizerWeek with a vegetarian choice--Very Veggie Puff Pastry Pizza Bites.

I've tried to spend a bit of each post talking about my food philosophy and today is no exception.  Today I want to talk about pantries.  Much of the toppings for my weekly pizzas are what I consider to be pantry staples:  a jar of artichoke hearts, a jar of olives, pickled peppers and cheese in the fridge.   I've got pepperoni and leftover cooked meats in the freezer.  Picking up one or two items (especially on sale or marked down) with each shopping trip means that over time I end up with a well-stocked pantry (but without the crazy cash outlay).  Buying in bulk can save money--if you have make the space for it.  Because I want the seasonal Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share vegetables to feed my family year round, I've got an extra little freezer (doubles as a microwave stand) to store the farm vegetables that don't live in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve. In addition, each year I expand my canning repertoire to put up the ever-increasing volume of tomatoes that we require.

I didn't go from zero (grasshopper) to 60 (ant) in a season--I've been evolving my ability to squirrel away food in season over the past dozen or so years.  [I've probably mixed up a bunch of animal/insect metaphors there, oops.] If I get a bunch of onions on sale, for example, I'll caramelize them in my crock pot (link to recipe below) and freeze them in ½ cup portions so I can bring them out when I get a hankering.  Too many leeks?  Slice them, wash them, and freeze them, to add to dishes. Peppers piling up? Chop and freeze them on trays, or roast and chop them before freezing--then add to soups, stews, and spaghetti sauce.  This means that I've always got ingredients on hand to make a variety of pizzas, like this one.

Visit all the other Appetizer Week blogs for more delicious ideas:

• Lasagna Dip by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Spinach Squares by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Ultimate Stuffed 'Shrooms by Cooking in Stilettos
• Feta Chicken Wontons by Makobi Scribe
• Roasted Red Pepper Guacamole by Clarks Condensed
• Parmesan and Garlic Boneless Chicken Wings by From Gate to Plate
• Greek Salad Skewers by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cajun Bacon Nuts by Life Off the Clock
• Jalapeno Poppers by Organized Island
• Mini Loaded Twice Baked Potato by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Chicken & Cheese Taquitos by Try Anything Once Culinary
• Very Veggie Puff Pastry Pizza Bites by Farm Fresh Feasts
• BBQ Chicken Nachosby Lemons for Lulu
• Apricot Blue Cheese Bitesby Food Lust People Love
• Low-Carb Kickin' Bacon Avocado Deviled Eggsby Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Sweet Onion Galette by Call Me PMc
• Buffalo Chicken Sliders by The NY Melrose Family
• Sticky Asian Chicken Wings by Flavor Mosaic
• Chicken Parmesan Sliders by Home Cooking Memories

NOTE: This recipe is not gluten free as written, because I used puff pastry dough containing gluten. To adapt this recipe for a gluten free diet please substitute the gluten free puff pastry dough of your choice.
Check labels to confirm that your other ingredients are also gluten free. Good sources for determining gluten free products can be found here:
http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/
http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/

Very Veggie Puff Pastry Pizza Bites

Ingredients

• 1 sheet (½ package) puff pastry dough, thawed
• 1 clove roasted garlic (here's how I roast and put up my garlic crop)
• 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup caramelized onions (here's Dorothy's easy slow cooker method)
• ½ cup spinach, chopped (if frozen, squeezed real well)
• ½ cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
• ¼ cup green olives
• ½ cup goat cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you've got a pizza stone, preheat it as well. 
2. On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out the puff pastry to about 10 by 15 inches.  
3. In a small bowl, mash the garlic and stir with olive oil. Brush the dough with the roasted garlic oil. 
4. Top with onions, spinach, artichoke hearts, and olives.  Dot with bits of goat cheese.  
5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until crust is puffed at the corners (the middle will remain mostly flat and be a tasty cracker pizza) and the goat cheese is lightly browned (I kept mine on the parchment the whole time).  
6. Cool a few minutes on a rack. Slice into squares and serve.
7. If you'd like to make pinwheels out of this pizza, even though you can't get any alliteration going with the vegetable toppings, finely chop the vegetables and please follow the pinwheel instructions from yesterday's post.

You can find my other #AppetizerWeek recipes here:
Buffalo Butternut Squash Hummus 
Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa 
Sriracha Butternut Squash Hummus 
Pickled Pepper & Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pinwheels 
This recipe is shared with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, What's Cookin' Wednesdays, Fresh Foods Wednesday, Food on Friday and the From The Farm Blog Hop.