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It feels good to be off, I feel rested and somewhat revitalized, and thank you so much for all those well wishes for my wife, she is feeling so much better! I spent the beginning of the week digging out from our blizzard, well it certainly looked like a blizzard, but after all was said and done, I think we only got about 8-10 inches of snow. The shore seemed to get the brunt of the storm with up to 20 inches in some area’s. So Monday morning before I went out to start the process of snow removal, I baked a batch of Cranberry Orange Muffins! I had received my very first Silicone Mould from my friend Sarah-Jane across the pond, and I was anxious to try it out. Sarah-Jane had this mould developed to replicate Starbucks Crown Top Muffins, and I have to say it did a pretty good job of it!
cranberry orange muffins
I would also like to congratulate Jenn from Jenn’s Food Journey for winning the same mould from Sarah-Jane. I can’t wait to see what kind of muffins she is going to create with it! Also Jenn is celebrating her one year blogoversary so stop by and say hello!
Ingredients
2 cups Sugar
2 cups Water
½ cup Orange Juice
2 cups Water
½ cup Orange Juice
¼ cup Cranberry Liquor (optional)
1- 12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1- 12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
Directions
Combine sugar, water, orange juice and cranberry liquor in a sauce pan. Heat over medium until the sugar has completely dissolved—but not boiling.
Add in Cranberries and reduce heat, allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. This will soften the skin, you do not want them popping.
Allow to cool, and then cover the berries with a small bowl or plate to keep them submerged.
Refrigerate overnight. Cranberries should be soft to the touch.
Drain the berries and allow to dry before adding to the muffin mix.
The leftover juice can be reduced to form a type of Cranberry Molasses for lack of a better term, I now have a nice jar full I need to find a use for!
It’s hard to say what exactly pushes you in the right direction, I think its different for everyone. There is a niche for everyone though and finding it is the tricky part. But hang in there, when I first started my blog I had 2 readers, my brother and his wife. That continued for about 4 months, then I found foodbuzz, and while I slowly gained readership, it still took quite awhile to get to my first 100 followers. I think it happened sometime around April which would be month 6, but then things started to move more quickly, my next hundred only took a month. I don’t know if your old enough to remember this shampoo commercial (i think) but it was I told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and so on, your growth rate then become much quicker. More folks see you on others blogs and notice you. That first hundred is the hardest.
That being said there are ways to jump start your blog, but they require a good deal of time and effort. I referred to blog wandering in my last post, that will work for you and speed your rate of growth, but you can spend 3 or 4 hours a day doing that.
As for giveaways, we don’t usually use are own money for them, as you become more established, companies will contact you to do reviews or giveaways for them, at no cost to you. Now granted some bloggers do spend their own money for giveaways but mostly its from the product your giving away, so don’t worry about that. Giving away cookies makes an excellent give away too, something you baked yourself showcasing your talent, that’s not too costly.
As for your images. Image is the most important thing you have to attract readers. I hear what your saying about ostracizing the viewers you are looking for, but here’s the question you have to ask yourself. If there are two pictures of the same sandwich are you drawn to the better looking one or the one that’s not as well done. Human nature will go for the prettier picture every time. Its not a bad thing to have good images, it shows you care about what you do, and it showcases it too. Your writing style and your food itself will attract the type of readers you want, but if you don’t pull them in in the first place there never going to find you. Its a catch 22.
You don’t have to spend hours taking pictures I can crank out 50 images in 10 minutes, but that way I have a better chance of getting the right one, and with digital that costs nothing but my time.
So my best advice would be to spruce up your blog site a bit, that will not take away from your content, but it will make you look more professional and knowledgeable.
At least that’s my take on it, I am certainly not the authority on blogging, but I like to share what I have learned and what works for me.
In the food service industry, we have an old saying, and its one of the first things I teach my students. “people eat with their eyes” if it doesn’t look good, no matter how good it might taste, you lost some of your perspective readers right then.
So my friends that wraps up my post. Please feel free to email me with questions or suggestions, I love to hear from you. We are a community and by helping each other we all become stronger!
Cheers
Dennis
The Mom Chef
You muffins are gorgeous. I love cranberry in baked goods (but can't stand cranberry sauce; go figure).
Loved the segment on photography too. I'm headed off to the Lowel EGO knock-off site. Thanks for the info.
Happy new year, my friend.
Robyn
Those muffins look REALLY good, like you said in that email response, people DO eat with their eyes! I just got the Lowel digital imaging light for my birthday and I can't wait to start putting it to use for my blog!