"Rough Around the Edges" Sugar Cookies & Enjoy Sendik's All Week

Posted on September 11th, 2013 by Leah Damron

I’m feeling a little rough around the edges this morning, and I’ll tell you why:  NTYB totaled his car yesterday afternoon.  Like, destroyed it.  And amazingly, he’s fine.  No one else was involved, and he’s extremely lucky to have walked away from the wreckage unscathed.  We’re making arrangements to junk poor Little Blue (the dearly departed Civic), Read more

Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | September 11th, 2013

Free Form Blueberry Tart

Posted on July 9th, 2013 by Leah Damron

I made that tart up there all by myself. Can you believe it? Me — the pastry challenged girl who can’t make a pie crust to save her soul — I MADE THAT TART WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS!! What the heck?! Are you as amazed as I am? It might be about the prettiest thing I’ve ever written of on this blog.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | July 9th, 2013

Lightened Up Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Posted on June 4th, 2013 by Leah Damron

In honor of June being Dairy Month, I decided to kick things off with summer’s first batch of ice cream from scratch. I sacrificed a waffle maker in the process. While I was standing on a chair above my pantry this morning, I moved our behemoth bread machine to the side and inadvertently knocked my thousand year old waffle maker to its (timely?) death on the kitchen floor. It was quite a scene, let me tell you. All in the name of homemade vanilla bean. Oh well … what’s that phrase? If you wanna make an omelet, you gotta break a few waffle makers.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | June 4th, 2013

Seven Layer Bars

Posted on March 19th, 2013 by Leah Damron

So, you probably won’t even believe that it’s come around again so quickly, but holy smokes, everyone — it’s National Chocolate Week. Who knew? This crazy celebration catches me off guard every gosh darned year. This morning I found myself under the gun to whip up something chocolate-y before the hullabaloo came and went without being paid its proper respects. Seven Layer Bars are cooling for the cakestand as we speak.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous | March 19th, 2013

Iced Chocolate Drop Cookies

Posted on January 22nd, 2013 by Leah Damron

I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes allow certain household chores to slide a wee bit. Like, once in a while I go a day without making the punk’s beds. And on occasion, I’ve had to re-run a load of laundry because I’ve left it sit in the washer too long. Y’know, harmless stuff like that. I don’t let these trivial little things bother me much. But there’s one thing in particular that drives me absolutely crazy that I never ever let slack, and that’s allowing my cake stand to sit empty for more than an afternoon. Doesn’t happen. This morning after packing the Pickle’s cold lunch, the cake stand was devoid of cookies, and I had to fix that, stat.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | January 22nd, 2013

Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted on November 6th, 2012 by Leah Damron

I had to take on a baking project today because 1) you know I can’t stand an empty cake plate and 2) I’ve single-handedly demolished every last Milk Dud in the house and had to have something else to move on to. Besides (and I know this is bizarre), about six months ago I decided on a freak impulse to hoard canned pumpkin (don’t ask), and now I’m doing my best to make a dent in my stash. So far I’ve made pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, and most recently, this perfect layer cake. It’s gorgeous to look at and filled with warm, autumnal spices that will make your house smell amazing and bring a smile to everyone you serve it to. And I have no reservations in making such bold promises.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | November 6th, 2012

Mango Sorbet

Posted on August 14th, 2012 by Leah Damron

I’ve had a slight issue of late with my ice cream maker. And the issue is that I cannot seem to stop finding excuses to use it. In the past oh, about ten days or so, I’ve made four different flavors: chocolate gelato (both milk and dark; milk was better), cookies and cream (a great use for those stale Oreos I had thanks to people in my house who cannot seem to figure out how to properly seal packaging), and a fantastic mint chocolate chip. Mint chocolate chip was the absolute, hands down, bombdigity. I’m not even that big of a sweets fan, but I swear, I could not tear myself away from that stuff. Amazing.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | August 14th, 2012

Fresh Fruit Tart with White Chocolate Filling

Posted on June 26th, 2012 by Leah Damron

By now you know that I’m not much for baking due to the fact that I pretty much stink at the whole process. So you might think that I paid someone off to make the fruit tart I’m discussing today, but that would be wrong. In fact, the tart pictured above was made by me, myself and I with very little fuss or muss. And believe it or not, I even managed to keep the use of questionable language in check.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | June 26th, 2012

Banana Snack Cake

Posted on March 13th, 2012 by Leah Damron

I don’t talk about baked goods all that often here because I just don’t really bake all that much. This is because while I love to have a recipe in front of me when I cook, I’m a bit of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl when it comes to actually following a recipe to the letter. Like, I don’t really measure stuff half the time. This laziness can be quite problematic when it comes to cakes and cookies and biscuits and scones and the actual science of baking. However, every now and then, I feel the crazy need to prove to myself that when push comes to shove, I am able to knuckle down, measure accurately, and create a fabulous cookie or cake or scone or what have you.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous | March 13th, 2012

The Best Peanut Butter Cookie You Will Ever Eat

Posted on January 24th, 2012 by Leah Damron

That’s a big claim, but it’s true — these cookies are amazing. You need them in your life.

Also it’s Peanut Butter Day, and the peanut butter people would be totally fired up if you chose to celebrate with them.

When it comes to food, there’s always something to celebrate.

Featured, Fresh, Frugal, Fabulous, News | January 24th, 2012