Pizza is the perfect food for entertaining — a crowd-pleaser with unlimited options for sauce, cheese and toppings. We started with one basic dough recipe and explored some creative combinations of ingredients that celebrate spring. If you’re willing to break with corned-beef-and-cabbage tradition, the naturally green pizzas are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day gatherings.

The Shishito Pepper and Pesto Pizza has dried herbs folded into the crust before rolling (fresh herbs would make the dough too wet). Add a layer of a four-cheese Italian blend on the bottom, then spoon on fresh pesto. Top with shishito peppers before baking. Consider yourself warned: Most shishito peppers are mild, but about one out of every 10 is fiery!

I named this one the Woodland Fairy Pizza because it looks like tiny elves and fairies could live in it. For this very green pizza, fold dried herbs into the crust, use fresh pesto for the sauce, then sprinkle with blue cheese (it looks more green than blue), grated Parmesan and blanched asparagus. Bake, then top with arugula and avocado.

Check out six more homemade pizzas for any spring occasion (or just dinner tonight).

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning food photographer and the author of Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts (Quirk Books 2013).