Ceri Marsh

Well, hello there. I’m Ceri. I’m a writer, an editor, a sometimes-editorial consultant, and one half of SPC. I've always loved food, eating in restaurants and trying new things in the kitchen for dinner parties. But when I had my kids, Esme and Julian, my relationship to food changed forever. Not only did the reality of having to prepare food for them over and over and over and over sink in, but the responsibility of feeding them well rocked my world. Gone were the days when cereal eaten over the sink could be a reasonable dinner. You know what else? Nights of skipping dinner altogether because the three hors d’oeuvres and two glasses of champagne consumed at a work event made me forget all about it - so over.

Around that time, the other big change in my life was work. After ten happy years working at a fashion magazine – it’s where I met Laura! - I had to be honest that my heart just wasn’t it in any more. Laura and I spent a lot of time back then talking about what we could do professionally that would allow us to have more flexibility but still challenge us creatively and that's how Sweet Potato Chronicles was born.

Now I spend my time testing and writing up recipes (and pressing the results on family and friends), working in the studio with our brilliant photographer Maya Visnyei to capture images, creating meal plans and basically trying to think of ways to make the family food challenge a little easier. And like you, I’m also making food for my family every day. Some days it’s a breeze and I’m patting myself on the back for raising humans that ask for Shakshuka for dinner. Some days it’s fights over how many bites of broccoli earns a bowl of ice cream and I wonder what I’ve done wrong. But if I’ve learned one thing being a parent it’s that nothing is static. Just when you’re ready to throw in the (kitchen) towel, someone leans over their dinner plate and offers up some gem from their day and it all feels worth it.

Laura Keogh

Hi, I’m Laura. I’m the other half of Sweet Potato Chronicles, a journalist and editor as well as a cookie-addict. I worked for nearly ten years as the beauty director of FASHION Magazine here in Canada where I met my SPC partner in family food craziness, Ceri. Being a beauty director and working in the fashion editorial world was everything you imagine it to be—full of travel, glamorous cocktail parties and black-tie affairs and, of course, irresistibly cute shoes. As a result, most of my eating was canapes, fizzy drinks and the occasional rubber chicken. However, I’d always loved cooking, experimenting in the kitchen and entertaining. And then, one day, my daughter was born, and my relationship with food changed forever.

As a result we started this blog, tried to get our kid’s involved in the kitchen and eventually wrote a book. Today I spend most of my time in the kitchen creating easy and delicious dishes and hoping to keep track of the half dozen or so notebooks I record my recipes in but always misplace. I also try to spread the gospel of using a meal plan to anyone who will listen. I love using my journalistic skills to help deliver the most recent nutritional information and strategies on SPC and hope this information makes our reader’s time in the kitchen more productive, efficient and happier.

Before moving to Canada to be with my husband Dan (I’m American), I lived in New York City. There I began my work as beauty journalist. I also toiled away in the crazy world of luxury Pr where I learned the fine art of persuasion. Those skills have proven useful years later as I try to get my daughter, Scarlett, to enjoy her piano lessons. Although, after years of cooking alongside me, there’s been nothing greater than watching her become a confidant and willing participant in the kitchen. And she eats kale, so we’ve got that going for us.

I wish I could share with you my hobbies but between raising my daughter, being a wife, a blogger, an author, a youtube personality, a class helper, a daughter and a runner, I have no time to do anything else. I figure when I'm 70 I'll have loads of time to talk to the cat and do things like read a good book. I miss good books.

Amanda Digges

Amanda Digges brings her love of Southern American fare (don't get her started on okra) to her Chef Notes column. A classically trained chef and the 2010 winner of the North East Region San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef competition, Amanda loves to share with SPC readers her tips on everything from how to perfectly poach an egg to entertaining like a chef. You don't have to be a foodie to enjoy her culinary reporting; you just have to be willing to soak lupini beans for weeks in your refrigerator. Amanda lives in Connecticut with her fiancé and teenage son who has a serious iphone addiction.

Kathy Magilton

Kathy Magilton delivers nutritional information on the latest cool ingredients or those blackberries you can't put down in her What's So Great About column. Her witty humor (She's our funniest columnist but don't tell the others we said that) allows you to forget that you've just spent the last decade of your life eating the topic of her What So Bad About column. She is a certified personal trainer and nutrition addict. Kathy was formerly a fitness contributor at Fashion Magazine and currently reports on health and fitness for national magazines like Elle Canada. She lives in Toronto with her fiancé of 10 years (no they're never getting married) and her cat Cindy Lou Who.

Heidi Pyper

Heidi is an OG SPC contributor. Heck, she even let us photograph her home and family for our book! She works at foodshare Toronto, whose mission is: good healthy food for all. Before that she was at Eat My Words, an insanely delicious, philanthropic cupcake company which raises funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Are you getting the impression she’s a good egg? You’re right, she’s the best. She’s also mom to two gorgeous kids. Heidi says that becoming a parent is what turned into a food activist (we get it!). We’re so lucky that in the midst of all that she contributes smart, funny posts about health, nutrition and her efforts to say buh-bye to gluten.

Lisa Durbin

Lisa has been with SPC since the beginning and she’s known Ceri since… just recently when they were both at University. Ahem. She’s a Canadian living in England, a mum of three and a technical writer by day. In her free time (cue hysterical laughter), she cooks, writes and clears paths through her house to get from room to room. We relate to the challenge she experienced going from cook for one to cook for five but it’s also inspired her to keep trying new recipes as well as buy gadgets she doesn’t need. Lisa has a little rubber fish that sucks egg yolk out of the whites, do you? She cooks with her kids as much as possible but has no problem admitting that somethings dinner is a grilled cheese sandwich on a piece of paper towel. Atta girl!

Louisa Clements

Louisa is a food blogger in her own right. Living Lou (livinglou.com) delivers delicious and healthy recipes as well a look into the life of a recent university grad with a love of travel and adventure. Her love of food started early with the arrival of her Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook when she was 7. We met Louisa in the early days of SPC when she interned for us - writing posts and pitching in big time on the production of How to Feed a Family. Basically, we can’t live without this girl!