Dishing Podcast

Melissa Riker is founder, recipe developer, and photographer behind The Happier Homemaker, a lifestyle blog focused on everyday recipes and home management for busy families.

Melissa is a former cancer researcher who left her career in the laboratory after having the first of three sons. She started her first blog in 2007 to keep in touch with family as a military spouse living far from home. The blog evolved to DIY and decorating as she and her husband undertook projects in the houses they bought, rented or built each time they relocated.

Melissa absolutely knows the stress that comes from managing a home: school, lunches, jobs, spouse, children. She founded The Happier Homemaker in 2011 with the hope of inspiring families to find joy in their homes again. Over the years, Melissa has grown her food blog into a six-figure business while moving four times in eight years, including a year spent abroad in the United Kingdom.

She and her husband Randy launched Riker Media, a lifestyle media company, in early 2019 and recently purchased a second, established food blog, Shaken Together Life, to add to their portfolio of websites.

When not behind the camera or laptop, Melissa travels extensively. She also enjoys her pets, gardening, bird watching and time behind her easel, painting.

Aneesha Gupta is a lifetime cook and author of the Spice Cravings food blog, where she shares fast, easy recipes that produce consistent results, even for new cooks.

Aneesh is a foodie by birth and the mind, body and soul behind Spice Cravings. She shares quick, easy and healthy global recipes that are LOW in effort and BIG on taste or, what she calls, "Everyday Gourmet"!

Aneesha's recipes are inspired by her love for spices, her north Indian roots, her global travels and most importantly, her life as a working mom. A recipe doesn't make it to the blog until it is tested multiple times and rates a thumbs-up from her taster-in-chief husband and her teen-chef twin girls!

Manali Singh is the author, recipe developer and photographer behind the Cook With Manali food blog, where she shares easy vegetarian meals. Her debut cookbook, Indian Vegetarian Cooking With Your Instant Pot®, was released in the fall of 2018.

Born and raised in India, Manali Singh started her food blog in 2013 when she moved to the US on a visa that didn't allow her to work. But what started as a way to kill time, quickly became a full-time gig. Her work has been featured on BuzzFeed, MSN, Yahoo and other influential websites.

Manali lives with her husband in beautiful Seattle. She enjoys watching Bollywood movies in her free time.

Mike and Patty Hultquist are the power couple behind the spicy food paradise, Chili Pepper Madness, where bold, vibrant flavors of all types come to life.

Mike is the cook and crazy wild chilihead, and Patty is the photographer and official taste tester for the Chili Pepper Madness food blog. Together they are the team that brings you zesty fare from around the world.

Mike is the author of The Spicy Food Lovers' Cookbook and The Spicy Dehydrator Cookbook. He considers himself a "gourmet chilihead," cooking up a range of foods from zesty Cajun cuisine to hot and spicy Thai and American cuisine to the hottest of the hot and anywhere in between. He has a deep passion for sauces and hot sauces and anything with big flavor.

Patty is a "converted chilihead," who gained a passion for spicy foods over the years and now can't get enough of them. Together, the Hultquists offer a perfect balance of fiery and flavor.

Bethany Kramer is the recipe developer, food stylist, and photographer behind A Simple Palate - a food blog dedicated to creating wholesome, easy to make recipes that are abundant in flavor.

Bethany grew up in a family with a love for Italian food and learned to cook at a young age. She founded her blog, A Simple Palate, in 2014 after marrying her husband Drew and finding her passion for cooking food for the people she loves. Drew is the other half of the brains for A Simple Palate and handles the technical side of the blog, including design and development.

A Simple Palate not only reflects Bethany's love for healthy and seasonal cooking, but also pays homage to her Jersey roots and love for Italian food.

Bethany and Drew currently live in sunny Los Angeles with their English Springer Spaniel puppy, Hudson.

In her former working life, Sue Ringsdorf worked as a budget analyst for Southwest Airlines. She left the corporate world to be a stay-at-home to her two sons.

After her sons were grown and Sue saw the empty nest approaching, she contemplated what the "next phase" in her life would be. She had always loved being in the kitchen trying new recipes and cooking the tried-and-true favorites passed down from her family, so on her 50th birthday, she decided to start her food blog, SueBee Homemaker.

When she's not in the kitchen, Sue and her husband, Mike, are exploring as many bike paths as possible. They are on a mission to bike ride in every state in the U.S. Sue documents some of their adventures on her blog, under the Life is Good page.

Sue has dedicated her blog to her mother, who was an excellent cook and baker, and who passed away from Alzheimer's in April of 2019. She shares many of of her mom's recipes, which can be found on her blog under Norma Jean's Kitchen.

Grayson Bell is the founder/CEO of iMark Interactive, a WordPress support company offering businesses and bloggers assistance with technical issues and site development based around WordPress. He's been using WordPress since 2003 and found a passion helping others with issues on their blogs and sites.

When he isn't working on WordPress related issues, Grayson loves spending time with his family and traveling around the world to soak in different cultures and lifestyles.

After making over $150,000 in only her third year of blogging, Kate Kordsmeier launched The Six-Figure Blog Academy to help other creative entrepreneurs make money doing what they love, while keeping their souls intact.

For almost ten years prior to founding her blog, Kate Kordsmeier worked as a full-time freelance food and travel writer and recipe developer. Her content has been published in over 125 magazines, newspapers and websites, including USA Today, EatingWell, Cooking Light, Travel + Leisure, Shape, FITNESS, Women's Health, The Washington Post, Clean Eating, Vegetarian Times, Wine Enthusiast, SELF and Real Simple.

Today, Root + Revel is a full time business, where Kate publishes articles and recipes that inform and encourage natural, mindful living, without sacrifice. Root + Revel provides a wealth of guidance and content covering everything from nourishing food to science-based self care; safe, non-toxic and effective green beauty; creating a healthy home environment; and holistic wellness. Kate is also a senior manager with Beautycounter, on a mission to get safer products in the hands of everyone.

A self-described "entrepreneur down to her bones," Kate has expanded her business to help other online entrepreneurs benefit from her success through such offerings as one on one coaching and DIY resources, including how to start a food blog, how to grow an audience, how to turn blogging into a successful business, how to pitch an e-book, and the Six-Figure Blog Academy.

Kate lives in Atlanta with her husband, Matt, their son, Jackson, their two cats, Scout and Boo, and their puppy, Finch.

Cheryl Malik is the food blogger behind 40 Aprons, where she creates and shares healthy recipes and wellness lifestyle content for real people.

In addition to running her food blog, Cheryl Malik is the cofounder and CEO of 40A., a food blogger virtual assistant agency, and Layer Cake, a design agency for food bloggers focused on better user experience and brand development.

Cheryl also works one-on-one with food bloggers in a food blogging and photography coaching program, helping bloggers upgrade their platforms and increase their traffic and revenue.

In her spare time, Cheryl also runs Quattro Mama, an apparel shop for new mamas, as well as Real Good, a skincare and wellness line for busy, real women. She's also the Editor in Chief at Easy Healthy Recipes.

Cassie Heilbron is the recipe creator and food photographer behind Cook It Real Good - a food blog that focuses on quick, easy and healthy recipes, with a bit of indulgence mixed in between for good measure.

Cassie Heilbron started her first blog – Be Forever Healthier – in early 2017. The blog focused on healthy recipes, health tips and life hacks. But after a few short months Cassie realized she was really only interested in food, so she narrowed down her focus to healthy recipes.

As the years went by, this no longer felt like the right fit for Cassie, who's food philosophy is everything in moderation, including moderation. So earlier this year she rebranded to Cook It Real Good and opened up her niche to include not just foods that are good for you but also foods that are good for the soul

Cassie also hosts the Cook It Real Good podcast, where she shares cooking hacks and tips with home cooks.