I don’t know about you but I have been spending a lot of my time lately -- eating. We all have our coping mechanisms especially during stressful times. However, for me this “eating” is as much a comfort as it is an inspiration. I’ve been overjoyed that a small highlight of being trapped at home with my children and spouse 24/7 is also quarantining with some neighbors. And they’re not just any neighbors, they are our best friends here and embody family to us. They’re the kind of friends that my children refer to as “Aunt and Uncle” we spend holidays together and they put up with my terrible and all too frequent puns.

Food Photography - Meghan LaPrairie Photography - Kabir Green

But one of my favorite nights as of late has been pizza night. And I’m not talking delivery — I’m talking homemade, from scratch with flour flying, tossing the crust in the air and the like. I’m not a food blogger because goodness knows I never really stick to a recipe but I do love to eat food and to photograph it (which is obvious to anyone that follows me on Instagram @MeghanLaPrairie) so here goes a food photography blog with recipes and some light riffing.

Food Photography - Meghan LaPrairie Photography - Ani Kame'enui

Dough Follow the recipe from Ken Forkish for the dough.

This pizza is hand tossed and makes five delicious large pies. Be sure to weigh in grams. This crust is to die for so I highly recommend it and although I’ve never made it myself I’ve seen it made a number of times and have been informed that although it’s time consuming that it’s also really easy to make. Another thing you will want is a food processor, something of which I registered for but was never given off of my registry because well...people know me but anyways it makes kneading the dough a breeze.

Next the sauce. This is pretty easy so I’ll include Kabir’s recipe here because I think you and I can make this.

Kabir’s Coveted Pizza Sauce Recipe

1 -16 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes

1 - clove of garlic

1 - tablespoon of olive oil

1 - pinch of crushed red pepper

2 - pinches of oregano

1 - pinch of oregano

3 - pinches of salt

Blend on medium in a blender for 30 seconds.

Like many of us I just cook off the cuff as does Kabir. We often joke that getting him to tell you what he is doing is like trying to get a famous cookie recipe out of an old Italian grandmother.

Day in the Life - Meghan LaPrairie Photography

Toppings And lastly the toppings. This was all made during quarantine, so at times we had to get creative as grocery runs were sometimes scarce.

One of my favorites to date was the crumbled chèvre and roasted pears drizzled with honey and mint. Another was roasted sweet potatoes, feta cheese with caramelized onions and fresh basil.

One of the more traditional pizzas was delectable slices of whole milk mozzarella with whole cloves of garlic. Occasionally a pesto sauce was made from fresh basil from the garden paired with kalamata olives and crumbled ricotta.

Pizza night is great on a night and perfect for when you want to clean out any fresh veggies or fruits that are in your fridge. Ideally though, you do want to roast or sauté your toppings before you put them on top of the pizza so that they’re already cooked before they get baked, otherwise you will end up with a soupy mess.

Day in the Life - Meghan LaPrairie Photography - Kabir Green

Now I enjoy pizza just as much as the next gal but I felt pretty spoiled over these past few months with this gourmet approach to what I would normally substitute for frozen pizza night.

Coronavirus has stretched us in many ways like pizza dough and it has bubbled up some difficult emotions but what you have left over in the end I hope is a presentation that with time and attention brings about feelings of joy and satisfaction.

I warned you about the puns.