Category posts with small thumbnails on static home page

Is there a way to get category posts on a static home page in a column either one or two posts wide? Ideally I want something like the ‘Recent’ and ‘Featured’ sections on the homepage here, below the slider: http://bodyliterature.com/

I’ve tried using post grid, essential grid, blog carousel and post carousel but nothing has put the image neatly alongside or above the text, ideally in a column like on the sample site in the above link. My featured images are stretched or cropped no matter what I do, even using Masonry mode.

We intended to launch the site tomorrow. I’m open to any ideas you might have to resolve this.

You do still have admin acceses to the site. It’s http://www.thecompassmagazine.co.uk

Thank you for your help. 🙂