Devorah Lev-Tov

Making a good vegetable pizza is actually a lot harder than it seems. There is nothing worse than canned, soggy, or partially cooked veggies on a pizza. I never used canned vegetables in my pizza and if I want my vegetables cooked, I almost always roast or saute them beforehand, especially if they are eggplants, squash, onions, or mushrooms. Why? Because they will not get cooked enough in the short time the pizza is in the oven, leading to half-cooked veggies--not so tasty. However, sometimes raw vegetables can be delicious on a pizza. One of my favorite versions is a sort of salad pizza, with fresh arugula and cherry tomatoes that I like to top with freshly shaved Parmesan and drizzled olive oil. Yum! Get the recipe here.

I've presented the whole wheat pizza dough argument before, but I recently bought a premade whole wheat pizza dough from the store from the first time, and I actually think it tasted even better than the whole wheat dough I make at home! Not to mention it saves so much time! Bottom line: If I want the benefits of whole grains in my pizza I'm buying it premade!

I've been wanting to make calzones at home for, oh, at least five years. I finally got around to it--not sure what took so long as they are super easy! I had some fresh broccoli from my CSA so I decided to use that in the filling, which ended up being a great idea--broccoli goes great with ricotta cheese, which makes the perfect calzone filling. You can find the recipe here, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! What do you like as your filling?

Are you a seafood lover? If so, your time is here, with Maine and the rest of New England gearing up for another plentiful season of lobster, clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, and everything else the ocean has to offer. If you're a lobster lover, you'll devour my latest pizza recipe, which is, of course, for lobster pizza! The original recipe uses an olive-oil base instead of sauce, but this would be delicious with a cream-based sauce, if you're ready for something a bit richer. What are your favorite lobster recipes?

Who doesn't love dessert? And, I ask you yet again,who doesn't love pizza? Of course, there is a way to combine them--dessert pizza! If sweet pizza sounds kinda weird to you, you just need to open your mind a little. Dessert pizzas use a traditional dough base but instead of tomato sauce, cheese, and other savory toppings, dessert pizzas are topped with something sweet, like chocolate, Nutella, or condensed milk for the "sauce" and fruit, nuts, coconut, or more chocolate for the "cheese!" It's basically a flat, open pie if you think about it, making the term "pizza pie" very appropriate.

I recently experimented with a Nutella and fruit topped concoction that had my husband clamoring for seconds...and thirds. The best part about dessert pizza is that, just like regular pizza, there are endless topping combinations, which means endless creativity and endless fun! What are your favorite dessert pizza toppings?

So when I make pizza at home I usually stick to vegetarian--not really sure why. I guess it stems from the fact that I used to be a vegetarian and just generally don't cook meat at home all that much. I also rarely order chicken on pizza at restaurants. I have no problem with meat, but for some reason chicken always seems odd on pizza to me. But I recently had a craving for barbecue chicken...and pizza...at the same time. So I just went for it, and made this beauty. And I must say, it was delicious. How do you feel about chicken on pizza?

As the weather finally starts to warm up and Memorial Day approaches, many Americans are getting their grills in order. But instead of the typical hot dogs and hamburgers this Memorial Day, why not grill a pizza? I've always heard great things about grilled pizza, and even had it at Fornino restaurant in Brooklyn a few times, but I'd never tried making it myself. But now I am a true believer! It's super easy and fun, and super tasty. Check out my easy instructions and give it a try this weekend or sometime this summer.

Every summer for the past seven years I've gone to Chicago to visit an old friend, see the sights, attend a music festival, and eat delicious food. I've had some amazing fine dining there, like Frontera Grill and Girl and the Goat, and some epic brunches at Ann Sather and Southport Grocery. And of course, I've had my share of deep-dish pizza, even though as a New Yorker, it feels almost sacrilegious. Chicago style pizza is so different than New York style and Neapolitan pizza, it's almost a completely different food--but they still share the common elements of crust, sauce, and cheese, which is always a winning combination in my book. Some of my favorite places to get deep dish pizza in Chicago are Gino's East and The Art of Pizza.

Have you ever been to Chicago? Do you like deep-dish pizza?

Growing up on the East Coast and having spent the last 8 years in New York City, I've become partial to thin crust New York style pizza. However, I am usually in Chicago once a year and I must say I enjoy having a slice or two of deep-dish pizza--but only once a year! A nice in between is Sicilian-style pizza, which has a thick crust that is spongy and a bit on the lighter side than a deep dish crust. I just made my own Sicilian pizza for the first time (check out the recipe!) and it was really fun--and yummy! What's your favorite pizza style?

Since I've become a "professional" pizza obsessive, I've had to learn some very pizza-specific words and terms. Some are obvious and easy, like "New York style pizza" and "kneading." But I soon found myself coming across words like "cornicione" and "crumb." After lots of research, I managed to compile a pretty comprehensive glossary of pizza terms and words. Check it out and see how many words you already know and which ones are brand new. And let me know if there's any I forgot!