About Sarah Allison

A woman with straight brown hair and bangs smiles warmly, wearing a dark turtleneck sweater. She is indoors, with a modern kitchen featuring cabinets and a range hood blurred in the background.

Hi, I’m Sarah!

If it’s 4pm and you’re staring at your phone wondering what’s for dinner, already tired, you’re in the right place. Sass and Salt is here for busy families who want something homemade on the table without losing their whole evening to the kitchen.

You don’t have to be a “good cook” to make food your family loves.
You just have to show up, and I’ll walk you through the rest.

Why You Can Trust These Recipes

Before starting Sass and Salt, I spent years working in the corporate food industry as a category manager, studying what people actually buy, cook, and eat, not what they’re told they should eat.

That experience shapes every recipe here. I test food the way families really cook, with shortcuts when they help and clear instructions that assume you’re juggling a lot.

My kids are my official taste testers.
If they won’t eat it, I go back to the drawing board.

What You’ll Find on Sass and Salt

Weeknight dinners that don’t take over your evening
Air fryer meals that save time and energy
Family-friendly desserts that feel fun, not fussy
If it saves you stress, mental energy, or dishes, it belongs here.

How Sass and Salt Began

My earliest memory of falling in love with food wasn’t in a fancy kitchen. It was at my grandmother’s church, standing on my tiptoes, rolling out biscuit dough and pressing the cutter down until we had a whole tray ready for the oven.

That’s where it started for me, not with a recipe, but with the feeling of making something with someone you love.

My mom carried that same spirit. She was a stay-at-home mom who cooked for us every day, and even after she and my dad divorced and life got harder, she never stopped gathering people around her table. Holidays were always at her house.

She showed me that food isn’t about having a perfect life. It’s about showing up for the people you love.

From Corporate Food to the Kitchen Table

A Career in the Food Industry

I grew up, went to work, and built a career I was proud of. I genuinely loved working in food and understanding how families shop and make decisions in the grocery store.

A child decorates a brownie graveyard with cookie tombstones, colorful candies, and icing on a baking sheet, surrounded by baking ingredients on a kitchen counter.

Becoming “Just Mom”

Then life shifted.

When my son was three, we learned he was autistic. I made the hardest decision of my career. I left a job I loved to stay home and give him the support he needed. Later, we discovered my daughter was dyslexic.

Suddenly, I wasn’t a category manager anymore. I was just “Mom.”

And I love being their mom, fiercely. But I also needed something that was mine.

Finding My Way Back to the Kitchen

Cooking and baking had always been the place where I felt most like myself. I’d always dreamed of starting a blog, so I did.

It wasn’t a straight line. There were years of learning, stopping, and starting again because my kids’ needs always came first. I think my first post was some almond muffins. I was proud just to hit publish.

The blog got pushed to the back burner more than once, but I kept coming back.

“Sass and Salt isn’t just a food blog. It’s proof that you can build something meaningful in the margins of a messy, beautiful life.”

And that homemade-ish still counts, in the kitchen and in life.

The Moment It Became Real

If I had to point to the moment Sass and Salt became real, it was the apple pie.

My mom always made homemade apple pies. The smell, the ritual, the way it meant someone cared enough to do the whole thing from scratch, it runs deep for me.

Over the years, I tweaked and improved on her recipe until it became my own: my Honeycrisp Apple Pie. And honestly? I like mine better now.

When I shared it, something shifted. People found it on Pinterest and actually made it. They left real comments. They told me it was easy. That it turned out amazing. That their families loved it.

Strangers were baking my apple pie in their kitchens, and it was working.

That’s when I realized this wasn’t just me posting recipes into the void. People were finding them, making them, and feeling good about what they put on the table. Which is the whole point.

What I’m Building Toward

Right now, my kids still need me, and they always come first. But Sass and Salt is mine. It’s the space I’ve built in the margins, and it’s growing.
When my kids need me a little less, this is what I’ll pour myself into even more.
I just turned 50, and I feel like I’m just getting started.
I took my mom’s apple pie and made it better.
I took a career detour and turned it into something I love.
If you’re reading this and you feel like you’re behind, or like everyone else has it more together than you do, pull up a chair. You’re in the right place. I’m not here to make you feel like you’re not doing enough. I’m here to help you put something on the table that makes your people smile, even on the hardest days.
That’s what my Grandmother did at her church. That’s what my mom did after her divorce. And that’s what I’m doing here.
Welcome to Sass and Salt. Let’s eat.

FAQs

I use an older version of the Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart Air Fryer, and it’s been a workhorse.

Sass was my nickname growing up — when I was little, I couldn’t quite say “Sarah,” so it came out as “Sass,” and it stuck. And Salt? Well, salt just makes everything taste better — including baked goods. Put them together and it felt like me.

Nope. If you can follow directions and set a timer, you’re more than qualified. These recipes are built for real, busy people, not culinary school graduates. I write every recipe assuming you’re juggling homework, laundry, and a kid asking for a snack while you cook.