Nutmeg

This is more of an infusion than a true tea, since it isn't made with tea leaves. You will have leftover spice tea to store.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

You don't have to be in the kitchen at the crack of dawn to prepare a terrific breakfast. In this recipe the French toast is soaked overnight like bread pudding — in the morning all you need to do is add the topping and pop it in the oven. Serve it with coffee, juice, and fresh fruit and you've got a well-rounded way to start the day.

Schupfnudeln The potato in this recipe cools for what seems an excessively long time — 4 hours or overnight — but chefs in Baden insist on this step because as the potato cools, more moisture evaporates through the skin, requiring less flour to be worked into the dough. The result is a lighter dumpling. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 5 hr (includes cooling)

We found this recipe in Austin Leslie's cookbook. It is from his mother, Ruby — she was Aunt Helen's sister and assisted her at Chez Helene and its predecessor, Howard's Eatery. Although Leslie served the bread pudding with a rum hard sauce, we prefer it with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Raisin-studded egg bread is nice for variety in this recipe. Soaking the bread in the batter a day ahead makes it even easier.

While I was growing up, my mother was very good about cooking food she knew I liked (I was such a picky eater). That's why I found it inexplicable that she kept making baked acorn squash, which I considered, at best, repulsive. Once she wouldn't let me leave the table until it was all gone. No surprisingly, we sat there all night!

Here's a great drink that is guaranteed to take the chill off a winter day. It's also quite nice with an added splash of brandy or Kahlúa.

This poultry dish features many of the flavors of the classic Moroccan dish b'stilla but is much easier to make.

Carrot Torte This cake is from the Veneto region in northern Italy. Use the sweetest, most flavorful organic carrots you can find—otherwise it will be a big "so what."