Cooking for Seven

Hello! I’m still here. Just a bit crazy busy at the moment. I have a wonderful post for you — it just needs to be edited and written. In the meantime, allow me to share some lovely things with you:


Pillow Cookies via Bakerella. Oh my. Half a cup of dough for each cookie.

Homemade Black Tea Lemonade via honey & jam. Sounds so refreshing.

Stockholm Floral Apron via Anthropologie. Simply gorgeous.

Leave Me. A lovely short film. Confession: it made me cry.


I hope you all have a lovely 4th.


With love,

Erica Lea

One afternoon, as my sister & I were on lunch break, we discovered something delicious: Greek Gods Yogurt. Between the two of us we devoured a 24-ounce container of the Honey flavor. Hey, it was my first encounter with “real” Greek yogurt.

The drawback? The price. I knew there must be a way to make Greek yogurt at home.

After one failed attempt that left me with runny yogurt, I gave up.  Then, a few weeks ago, I decided to try again. And…success! The creamy, rich yogurt was almost like sour cream.

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Are you looking for a light, airy bread recipe? This one is not for you. Are you looking for a hearty, whole-grain bread filled with complex flavors? Keep reading.

I must admit that I had my doubts about this recipe. I threw all of the ingredients into the bread machine, set it to the dough cycle, and left it for hours. When I returned, it hadn’t risen very far and the dough smelled strongly of yeast. Being an optimist at heart, I scraped it out of the pan, formed it into a ball, and set the oven.

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I can hardly believe that my blog will turn two in a little over three months. It has been a wonderful experience. I have learned (and am still learning) so much about photography, cooking, and writing.

Let me share some of my earliest posts with you. Above: my very first post — Honey Pecan Pear Bread. I was so proud that it was accepted by TasteSpotting.

Smoky BBQ Sauce. I was so excited when Joy the Baker linked to my sauce.

Sweet Onion Dip. I thought this shot was so cool. Ha!

Banana Nut Bread. I thought this photo was pretty much the awesomest ever.

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking into my blogging past. I hope you didn’t laugh too hard at my early attempts at food styling/photography. I was eighteen.

I have so much more to learn and am still very excited about my blog. It gives me satisfaction and allows to me share my work with the world. I can’t wait to see what the next 100 posts will bring!

What do you do when you run out of your favorite chocolate chips and want to make some utterly scrumptious cookies? Ad-lib a bit, of course!

I dug through our extensive collection of printed Internet recipes and found one claiming to be the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe.

Of course I had to experiment and expand. I threw in some toasted pecans and chopped dates. Am I ever glad I did. The toasty pecans add a nice flavor and texture. When you bite into a date, it seems a tiny explosion of fruity sweetness occurs.

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