Katie's frozen pizzas winning awards in this house

Katie's Pizza & Pasta Osteria is an award-winning restaurant in St. Louis. Like everyone else, Katie's is doing its best to adapt to these rather unusual times, and its solution has been to start a frozen pizza mail order service. Since I am always in the mood for pizza, and especially award-winning pizza, I placed an order and let the food come to my front door.

I ordered the Six Frozen Wood Fired Pizza Box, and after shipping charges, the pizzas ended up costing a tad more than $23 apiece. This was definitely a luxury, but also an act of giving: for every frozen pizza purchased, Katie's donated a frozen pizza to a local food bank, so it was nice to know that other people got to enjoy these fantastic pizzas, just like my family and I did.

The pizza box came in the mail, with two foil insulation bags and dry ice. The nice thing about being so close to Katie's is that delivery is quick, and the pizzas were still frozen solid. The first night, we tried the Morel Mushroom (yep, you read that right ... morels!) and the Meatball. I cooked mine on a baking stone at 450 degrees. It said eight to 12 minutes, and I thought mine needed the full 12 minutes to look toasty and melted. But how did it taste? All of Katie's pizzas contain quality ingredients, and you can taste the extra care in the choices made.

The Morel Mushroom pizza was built up with morel mushrooms, black garlic butter, Stracchino cheese, leeks, Pecorino, lemon zest and sea salt. The onion flavor was strong and predominated, so pass on this one if you're not an onion fan. The mushrooms gave a hint of the glory that is a fresh morel and made me smile.

The Meatball pizza contained San Marzano tomato sauce, Neapolitan meatballs made with pork and beef, pine nuts, Fior di latte mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The meatballs were bite-sized, so eating the pizza wasn't awkward, and the cheese was melty and oozy.

Katie's Lemon & Asparagus Pizza, loaded with preserved lemons and pine nuts, tangy and tasting of spring.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Before I tell you about the other two pizzas I tried, I have to take a moment to tell you about the true star of Katie's pizzas: the crust. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with a hint of wood smoke and the thick heaviness of delicious homemade bread, you will not throw your crust away with these pizzas. Getting to the last bites was my favorite part.

A couple of nights later, I cooked the Extra Ezzo Pepperoni Pizza and the Lemon and Asparagus Pizza. The Lemon and Asparagus pizza had Olio Nuovo (the first press of olives for oil), preserved lemon, fresh spring asparagus, wild spinach, Stracciatella mozzarella, Fior di latte mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and pine nuts. Oh, my goodness, the pine nuts made this one, adding that unique nutty, meaty ping to my tongue with every bite. Combined with the salty tang of the preserved lemons that were cut so thin you could see through them, the bold taste of asparagus just tasted like absolute citrus spring. This one surprised me, because I thought it sounded odd, but it was incredible.

Speaking of incredible and odd, my favorite was the Extra Ezzo Pepperoni, and it wasn't because it was just a "regular" pizza. Nothing about Katie's can be called just regular. This pizza had Olio Nuovo, Stracchino cheese and Ezzo artisan pepperoni. Packaged separately in a little plastic bottle was some local Missouri honey that I was supposed to drizzle over the top of the pizza when it was cooked. That's right. Honey, on a pepperoni pizza. So, my mind was kind of blown, and I was having a hard time imagining what in the world this would possibly taste like. Looking at my hot, gooey pepperoni pizza and hoping that I wasn't ruining it, I gamely dumped honey all over it. You guys, I can't even ... the honey melted thin over the whole thing, and the salty pepperonis combined with the sweet sheen of honey was one of the best things I have ever tasted on a pizza. You can think I'm crazy or call me nuts, but I stand by this: Honey on this pepperoni pizza was delicious, and I want a slice again just thinking about it.

I still have two more pizzas in my freezer, and I regret nothing. Let Katie's do the hard work and put an artisan pizza in your oven.

Find Katie's Pizza & Osteria at www.katiespizzaandpasta.com.

Katie's Extra Ezzo Pepperoni Pizza, covered with a sheen of sticky honey and absolute nirvana on a crust.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair