Okay, maybe this isn’t the drink of choice for most weekday mornings, but it’s always a great way to end a meal!  Try the chocolate whipped cream on just about anything for a fabulous alternative to plain sweetened cream.

Spirited Cafe Au Lait with Chocolate Whipped Cream
Serves 4-6

3 cups strong brewed coffee
1 cup milk, any variety
2 tablespoons sugar
¾ cup Kahlua
1 cup chilled heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Confectioners’ sugar as needed to sweeten
Chocolate shavings [Read more →]

These  home-style pastries are a favorite of mine. The cream cheese dough is unbelievably tender and the apricot filling is a nice sweet-tart contrast to the richness of the dough. Rugelach fillings are unlimited. Try raspberry jam and mini chocolate chips or  orange marmalade and walnuts. You can make extra dough and freeze it in discs  and  have rugelach any time you want it! Enjoy.

Spiced Apricot Rugelach
Makes 32 pieces

Prep time: 30 minutes
Chill time: Overnight
Bake time: about 25 minutes

Dough:
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened [Read more →]

I’m so excited to have my recipes featured in today’s “Nat Decants”, a newsletter by wine writer Natalie MacLean.  I’ve been using her Wine and Food Matcher tool for  a while now so I was pleased to get a chance to interview her on Amy’s Table and even more pleased to share recipes with her readers.  Check out her site for all kinds of great information.

Here’s this week’s recipe from Findlay Market. Sounds like the perfect dish to make for Fat Tuesday! Enjoy- Amy

Spicy Pepper Pot

2 red peppers cut julienne
2 yellow peppers cut julienne
4 poblano peppers cut julienne [Read more →]

Keoki Trask created  the Fun Photo CD, which allows anyone to create a pocket sized, personalized, photo slideshow. Visit www.FunPhotoCD.com for more information. 

Here are 6 Tips from Keoki for taking better Digital Photos:  

1. Time is money – and visa versa. If you can plan far enough ahead, choose [Read more →]

Making great pizza at home is easy, if you have the right tools.  A pizza stone makes for a crisp pizzeria style crust (and works great for homemade breads, too) and a pizza peel helps get the pizza from counter to oven  and back  again a much easier feat! To avoid the devastating discovery that you’ve got a fully loaded pizza crust that you can’t budge, don’t forget to sprinkle some corn meal on your work surface before you begin. The corn meal acts like little “ball-bearings” .

Enjoy these recipes for pizza, pretzels and calzones.

Greek Pizza
Makes 1 Pizza

Prep time: 15 minutes [Read more →]

 Here’s a pizza dough recipe that everybody’s talking about. Notice the extra-long rest time. While you can’t decide to make this last minute, it certainly is an easy recipe for a great tasting dough with a fabulous texture.

No-Knead Pizza Dough
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Co.
Makes four 12-inch pizza crusts

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast (such as SAF brand)
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ cups water [Read more →]

This morning I spoke with  Patti Digh, author of Life is a Verb.

In October 2003, Patti’s stepfather was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died 37 days later. That led Patti to ask herself every morning: What would I be doing today if I had only 37 days left to live? The answers changed her life- and led to her book  and the creation of her award-winning blog 37days.net. 

Patti suggests 6 practices to jump-start a meaningful life:
Say Yes
Trust Yourself
Slow Down
Be Generous
Speak Up
Love More

What would you do if you had only 37 days? To learn more about Patti, visit her site, 37days.com

This morning I spoke to Amy Dickinson. You know Amy as the syndicated advice columnist, Ask Amy, but she’s written a book called The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them. She was a true pleasure to talk to and I can’t wait to start the book.

How much do I love this card? It just makes me laugh. You can find it, and all kinds of other really special cards, notes and gift tags at Sycamore  Strest Press.