Blogger Spotlight: My Sweet Mission

Baking is a labor of love, and that's why Heather Carter's blog, My Sweet Mission, has been such a smashing success. Heather's passion for baking started when she was just a girl, but she has honed her craft through many family dinners, children's birthday parties, and experience as the head baker for her church's restaurant, Baxter. Heather started her blog in July 2012 as a way to share her highly coveted recipes with friends and family. Since then, the blog has blossomed into a beautiful array of sweet and savory recipes, created by Heather and her husband John.

But Heather's blog does more than simply provide instructions on how to create irresistible food; it also pairs with her passion of mission trips, hence the name, My Sweet Missions. Heather and her husband work with Hope International Ministries, a missionary organization providing aid and medical assistance to the people of the Dominican Republic. She has also traveled to Thailand and Eastern Europe, and remains active in good works projects here in The United States.  

Heather continues to add sweetness to the world through her baking, blogging, and missions.

As a member of our Culinary Content Network of food bloggers, The Daily Meal would like to introduce you to Heather Carter in this week's Blogger Spotlight; keep reading below!   

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The Daily Meal: What is the mission of your blog? My Sweet Mission is to make your kitchen more delicious, with tried & true recipes, helpful kitchen tips and beautiful food gift ideas!

How'd you get started? My niece, Melissa from the Bee's Knees, is a fashion blogger and had been blogging about 6 months before I started. She encouraged me to start a food blog, so I could share our family's favorite recipes! I chose the name from two of my passions; baking and missions. Since I was a young girl I loved to bake and was recently a baker at a restaurant for 2 years, where I made hundreds of gourmet cookies, muffins, sweet breads, brownies...etc. People are always asking me for my recipes and many in my family, along with my husband and myself, are excellent cooks so I share these family favorite savory recipes too. I also share posts periodically about missions because my husband and I love going on mission trips and have been to the Dominican Republic several times with Hope International Ministries. We also did one mission trip to Bangkok, Thailand with our son, Andy. He has done work with an orphanage in a small village and has been there many times.

What are some foods you can't live without? Chocolate, ice cream, pizza, cheese, pasta, homemade bread, dessert (of any kind!) and butter.

Are there any foods you can't stand? Squid and octopus. But, I LOVE almost every other seafood!

What is your proudest post? My Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins. This post has been shared on Pinterest over 90+ times, has 59 comments, and it;s absolutely the best blueberry muffin recipe!

What is your biggest blog blunder? Recently adding the Yoast plugin without transferring my SEO markup. My page views took a hit, and it's taking a while to get them back to the levels they were before adding the plugin. But, they're slowing increasing.

Do you have a memorable comment from a reader? I get so many nice comments, but this one really made my day! Monica wrote: "I'm so happy I found this site for all the same Hungarian foods I grew up with. I am from German heritage, but my mom's sister, my aunt, married a 100% Hungarian man. Aunt Heidi learned to make all these dishes upon her husband's request.  We lived very close to them and always received the leftovers. Your Goulash recipe is spot on from what I remember, especially with the slice of homemade buttered bread slice to soak up the juices. My uncle would eat with a fork in one hand and bread in the other.  You've sparked very good memories from my childhood and put a big smile on my face. Thank you for sharing this goodness." I just love this comment and it's super encouraging too!

What's on your cooking playlist? My favorite music is contemporary Christian. Some of my favorite artists are: Need to Breathe, Hillsong UNITED, Third Day, Carrie Underwood, Chris Tomlin, All Sons and Daughters and so many more. I enjoy contemporary Christian music because I love Jesus, this type of music is uplifting and encouraging!

What are some other blogs you love? Oh, wow! I have quite a few food blogs I love to follow. But, here are just a few...Bigger Bolder Baking, Culinary Hill, Recipe Tin Eats, Pinch of Yum, Table for Seven, Cupcake Diaries and Living the Gourmet, just to name a few.

What are some food apps you love? Pinterest (of course) and another highly favored one is Yummly. These are usually in my top 5 traffic sources and they're both great places to share recipes and find inspiration!

What is the best thing about blogging? I get to share recipes I love with people all over the world, like newly developed recipes or our family favorite ones! That excites me and drives me to develop new delicious recipes all the time.

The worst thing? It's not often but it's frustrating when a recipe fails, because of the time spent and the waste of ingredients. I can usually develop a new recipe the first time. But, sometimes it takes 2-3 tries to get it absolutely perfect. This can be time consuming and costly too. But, I promise to only share my best, tried and true recipes and once they're published on my blog it's extremely rewarding to me, my family and my readers!

Is there a recipe you're currently obsessed with? Probably healthy treats like; energy balls and granola recipes. Some are already on my blog and a few recipes I'm currently working on!

What would even your most loyal followers be surprised to learn about you? I had a cosmetology license for over 30 years, until moving to Florida about 2 years ago.

What are five of your all-time favorite posts:

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Crunchy Panko Crusted Cod

Marinated Crispy Panko Chicken Breasts

Simple Strawberry Sauce

Southern Slow Steaks

Crusty Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes