text: This layered dip will wow your guests! The pizza flavor stands out in this dip, with layers of cream cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni, and melted cheese. Serve the dip with tortilla chips or crackers.
  The dip is baked to perfection in a pie plate. The dip is served hot, but it can be kept warm on a warming tray. It can also be baked in an 8-inch square baking dish.
  Change up the flavors with some crumbled cooked bacon, finely chopped bell peppers, or jalapeno pepper rings. Or make it one pepperoni pizza dip and one all-veggie for your vegetarian guests. We used sliced kalamata olives on the dip in the photo. See the variations for a Tex-Mex version of the dip and more ideas.
  1 jar/14 ounces pizza sauce
  1/3 cup onion (red or yellow, chopped)
  1 can/6 ounces black olives (sliced)
  Press the cream cheese into the bottom of 9-inch glass pie plate. Spread the pizza sauce over the cream cheese layer.
  Sprinkle the chopped onion over the pizza sauce and top with 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella cheese. Arrange the olives and pepperoni over the mozzarella layer and finish with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
  Bake the dip for 25 minutes.
  Serve warm with corn chips or your favorite crackers.
  There are loads of ways to enjoy pizza flavors in bite-size appetizers and snacks. Try these simple pizza crostini; tasty little French bread rounds topped with pizza toppings and cheese. Or, if you have a tube of biscuit or crescent roll dough, bake these pizza pinwheels or pizza pockets.
  With Ground Beef: Sprinkle about 1 cup of crumbled ground beef or sausage over the tomato sauce. Top with 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, the sliced black olives, and pepperoni, if desired (or omit the pepperoni). Top with the remaining cheese and bake as directed.
  Vegetable Pizza Dip: Replace the pepperoni with strips of red, green, and yellow bell pepper.
  Tex-Mex Style Pizza Dip: Replace the pizza sauce with about 1 1/2 cups of salsa and use a shredded Mexican blend of cheeses instead of the mozzarella. Use ground beef or thinly sliced chorizo in place of the pepperoni. If desired, add sliced pickled jalapeno rings (nacho slices) along with the sliced olives.
  With Bacon: Add about 1/4 cup of crumbled cooked bacon along with the pepperoni.
  Alternative Topping Suggestions: Sliced fresh tomatoes, shredded chicken or grilled chicken strips, sliced artichoke hearts, basil leaves, caramelized onions, blue cheese sprinkles, diced ham, kalamata olives, mushrooms, and jalapeno peppers.