New blog!

So the new blog is UP and running.  It has all the old posts from here and the craft blog mixed together.  And it even has NEW posts already!  Yup Little S's birthday party was this weekend and I posted it (and the cake and all the other great foods) over there.  So please check it out.  Also if your a follower that doesn't automatically transfer over so be sure to follow the new blog!

This will be my last post here at Bittersweet, but the BEST news?  I'm taking the plunge, I'm starting a website for my cakes.  More professional and easier to market.  We've decided to stop our wandering ways (for now) and are settled here in SLC for the foreseeable future.  So I'm going to start marketing, and actually try to make a real effort to sell cakes!  Wish me luck (and call and order!).   So look for that in the next few days.

This week for dinner- Crock Pot Jambalaya

My husband has been out of work for almost a year now.  We were hoping to go back to school and my husband getting his PHD, but that isn't working out well either.  We haven't gotten accepted anywhere yet.  Either way though it's pretty tight around here, and isn't getting any better anytime soon.  So it looks like I might either go back to school myself or get a "real" job in the evenings.  I'm searching for good Crock Pot meals I can make before taking off in the evenings.  So here is my first try.  We love spicy food, and I've liked Jambalaya.  But this wasn't perfect.  I have some ideas for the next time.  Fresh herbs, instead of dried, and I'm thinking about trying it in the rice cooker, since the main problem was the overdone rice on the bottom and underdone rice on the top.

Crockpot Jambalaya
1 pound chicken breast sautéed and cut into pieces
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
28 oz can stewed tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 C uncooked rice
3 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
In a slow cooker, mix the sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, rice and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the chicken during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

This week's treat- Frozen Hot Chocolate

I went to NYC last year (before the whole job loss, moving in with the in law's thing!). Anyway while I was there, with a wonderful girlfriend, we decided to check out Serendipity! We just HAD to try the frozen hot chocolate! It was good, HUGE and nice. Even better? Totally able to make at home! I just made a batch of my homemade Hot Chocolate and then put it in the fridge. Once it was cool I threw it into my ice cream maker. Since it doesn't have cream in the hot Chocolate it doesn't cream up, instead it crystallizes a bit. Anyway, I made a batch tonight! It totally hit the spot. This way I can enjoy my favorite beverage even in the middle of winter! Whatever you don't finish just put it back in the refrigerator (it get's too hard in the freezer) and you can either reheat it for hot chocolate, or refreeze another time.

Hot Cocoa
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla; blend well. Serve immediately.

This week for dinner- Spinach salad

Technically this isn't a dinner, but it's a family favorite at our house and we eat it so much I figured it deserves it's own post.  PLUS it's a great way to use up your leftover hard boiled easter eggs!  It's actually one of the only salad's I'll eat!  My husband (the veggie eater in this relationship) loves it, of course.  But the surprise is my oldest!  She LOVES it.  In fact we've been known to BRIBE her with it.  "If you eat your ...(insert something not nearly as good for her here)...  you can have more salad".  True!  But we're trying to teach the kids to try a bit of everything so they won't totally insult someone if we go over for dinner.  So I use what they like to east, like this salad!  The salad itself is easy, the home made dressing really makes it!

Spinach Salad
9-10 oz baby spinach
6 hard boiled eggs sliced
Jar bacon bits
½ bag slivered almonds
Grated mozzarella cheese
Layer eggs, bacon bits, almonds and cheese between spinach

Dressing
1 Tbsp red onion (about a ¼ of an onion)
¾ C white vinegar (I've also used rice vinegar and it works well)
1 C olive oil (you can use vegetable oil if you'd rather)
¾ C sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
¾ tsp Dried mustard
1 ½ tsp poppy seeds
puree all ingredients, except the poppy seeds, in blender until it's well blended and you don't see any flecks of red onion.  Then just before serving add the poppy seeds, give it a short mix and serve!

Question?

So I've had this blog since 2007, then I started the craft blog in January, AND I have a private personal blog with all the fun stuff about my kids and day to day life.  That's a lot of blogs.  When I started looking around at craft blogs I decided to start a new blog and keep my crafts and food's separate.  But now I'm questioning that decision.

Background:  My husband is supposed to be starting a PHD program in the fall, but we're worried about funds.  So I've been trying to build up my cake business as well as an etsy store to try to support our family over the next 5 years until he's done and has a job somewhere.  But it's not working and it looks like I might have to go get a "real" job in addition to parenting our 4 asperger children.

Posting on both blogs, trying to get followers for both, and working on selling stuff on Etsy as well as my wedding/birthday cakes is actually lots of fun.  But when I'm crafting my food blog is suffering, when I'm cooking my crafts are suffering.  SOOOOOOO  the whole point of this point.  Do you think it's better to have the food and crafts separate, or would it be okay to merge the two blogs and have crafts and food/cakes, on the same blog?

Edited to add: any suggestions for a name if I put them together?  Stick with Corner Crafts, or Bittersweet Cake shop or mix the two to be Bittersweet Craft Shop ORRRR  Something totally new???