About Simple Bites

Cheryl Arkison

Growing up as a good Ukrainian girl on the Canadian prairies, Cheryl was introduced to the notion of expressing love through food from day one. As the mother of daughters though, it will be a continual challenge to balance food as love and food as life. So long as they are sharing the adventure of discovering food, tasting, and cooking she is hoping it turns out alright. With an educational background in sustainability and environmental policy, and a passion for food she is combining both in her approach to cooking. With a focus on supporting local producers in the Calgary area and visiting the farms as often as possible she hopes to raise her children with the same knowledge she did – that food comes from people and farms, not from the grocery store on Styrofoam plates. Beyond the kitchen Cheryl is also an accomplished quilter, teacher, and writer. No matter the medium, she fuels her creative fire on a daily basis. She blogs regularly on Backseat Gourmet and Naptime Quilter.

Lynn Craig

Lynn is a mother of 4 children, two grown and two at home, whom she homeschools. Passionate about food, she bakes for fun, for therapy, and to bless others. Her husband good-naturedly puts up with her cookbook addiction, works out with her to keep the weight in check, and serves as tech support for her blog, Cookie Baker Lynn. Blogging is Lynn’s excuse to try new recipes, practice writing, and helps her fulfill her life motto, “Life’s short, eat dessert first.”

Cheri Neufeld

With a love to cook, bake, decorate, and serve Cheri is a self learning culinary blogger. Cheri is a wife, mother, and Canadian expat living in the land of fjords. Having fallen in love with cooking in college, it wasn’t until recent months that Cheri began sharing her love of food and explorations of new recipes on her site KitchenSimplicity.com; a blog quickly on the rise. Already she has been featured several times in places like allrecipes publications and glamour magazine online. Her simplistic approach to food is to inspire and teach others to cook more simply without sacrifice of quality or flare! All of Cheri’s adventures, recipes, photos, and more can been devoured at KitchenSimplicity.com.

Elizabeth Nyland

Growing up on Vancouver Island (on the wet West Coast of British Columbia) led to a love of nature and all things in it. The child of an avid hunter and gardener, lean years in her family were filled with plenty of wild caught protein and home grown produce, giving Elizabeth a true appreciation of local food. Through adolescence and young adulthood, Elizabeth kept busy as a professional chef in catering outfits and restaurants alike. After a stint in college led to an office job outside of the food world, Elizabeth continued to cook for herself, her family and her friends. Soon after buying a house and a dog, marrying her husband and having her first son, food became even more important. Learning all about the local food movement while trying to make her son’s first foods more “sustainable” was what brought Elizabeth’s passions for food back to the forefront. Having not returned to work to stay home with the little tornado, blogging about her passions just came naturally. Now expecting a second child, Elizabeth’s life is filled with her love for local food, family, gardening, writing, photography, endless laundry and diapers. You can hear all about it on her blog, Guilty Kitchen.

Shaina Olmanson

Growing up in Minnesota, being surrounded by farms and ever-changing seasons was a daily reminder of the importance of local, seasonal food. Working from home as a freelance writer, editor and photographer and raising her four young kids with her husband Ole, Shaina strives to teach them the importance of growing, preparing and eating real food. She fell in love with the art of cooking while spending countless hours hanging on her Yugoslavian-born grandmother’s apron strings, watching her roast meats, simmer sauces and bake elegant treats. Should you be lucky enough to live close by, Shaina will be happy to share those same treats with you because she believes the best kind of gift is one that fills you up. She is the home cook and photographer behind Food for My Family and can usually be found in one of three places: cooking, at the computer or behind the camera. More often than not, these three things occur in the kitchen simultaneously, only now her apron strings have her own children hanging from them.

Shannon