Born and raised in Lancaster, PA, Chef Amy began what would become her lifelong passion in food while learning from her mother who studied under the world renowned cooking instructor and author, James Beard. Amy continued her education at Ithaca College in New York, studied internationally in London and graduated with honors from the Culinary Arts Program at the Art Institute of Phoenix.

Following graduation Chef Amy began teaching cooking classes while establishing her own personal chef business "Love at First Bite" as principal chef and owner. A personal chef for seven years, Amy is also the full time resident chef for SunWest Appliance Distributing, the local Viking distributor. At SunWest, Chef Amy can be seen cooking and instructing various showroom events as well as field demonstrations. SunWest hosts many special events where catering is done in-house under her guidance.

Chef Amy is the creator of a team building program called "The Chef and the Shrink". Hosted at SunWest, she partners with David Wayne, Ph.D, a former professor of psychiatry with over 25 years of knowledge in working with organizations to facilitate and lead groups through team building events. The participants experience a new and dynamic dimension in team building in the cooking environment. Chef Amy also performs themed hands-on cooking classes at SunWest - from Asian fusion to grilling on the BBQ and from seasonal holiday feasts to how to host a cooking party.

Read the September '07 ARIZONA REPUBLIC newspaper article "Kitchen Magician" of Amy! »

By Sonja Haller Chef Amy Ahrensdorf speaks with preacherlike passion about the social importance of family mealtime and proper nutrition for physical and mental health. But she's also sympathetic to the time-crunched working masses. "Who says a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can't be OK for dinner?" she asks. Ahrensdorf, or Chef Amy as she's know, has developed a three-day course called Kitchen Philosophy 101. More »