I'm Terri, a passionate home cook and baker, award-winning recipe developer, hobby cake decorator, community volunteer, Weight Watchers online member, and busy working mom who is trying to eat healthy and fit everything into not enough hours in a day.
Jump to:
REAL FOOD. REAL LIFE. HEALTHY BALANCE.
- I believe in healthy balance, moderation, and creating recipes for real life.
- I create recipes that are realistic for busy people and/or those people out there who don't necessarily want to spend hours in the kitchen. Check out my favorite and useful cooking and kitchen hacks, tips and tricks HERE!
- I focus on easy, quick, make-ahead, shortcut, healthy, family-friendly, and Weight Watchers friendly recipes and tips. Check out my 45 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables for healthy, practical, and economical tips and recipes!
- I’m not associated with Weight Watchers in any way, I'm just a longtime WW member who believes in the program and their message about the plan being a healthy and balanced lifestyle (normal healthy eating) and not a diet. I've personally lived it for 20 years (with gains and losses along the way, of course!) You can read about my personal Weight Watchers (WW) journey HERE. You can see what WW strategies have worked for me over the years by reading my My Weight Watchers Tips and Tricks HERE, and be sure to join my Facebook HERE for more support, tips, tricks, and recipes!
It's about Moderation!
- I LOVE to bake and believe that you can eat everything in moderation, so you will find decadent recipes as well.
- I am also a hobby cake decorator, and I think food is FUN, so there is also some food art. Check out my Top 10 Tips for Building a Large Gingerbread House post! I built this house from scratch in 2013 (it was a bucket list thing)
- Being Ukrainian Canadian and a huge fan of Ukrainian food, I also love to modernize (and lighten) traditional Ukrainian dishes. This Loaded Pierogi Soup is one of my most popular recipes:
Some random things about me
- I can't carry a tune to save my life and still mouth the words (like I did in elementary school choir) when I'm forced to sing publicly.
- I am crazy for cats, and well on my way to being a crazy cat lady. I have a very cute but naughty grey and white tabby named Milo. He's also food crazy and is constantly trying to steal food.
- My husband (Dave) taught me to cook, and I was pretty useless in the kitchen prior to that (although we were pretty young when we started dating). We've been together for 37 years!
- I love baseball and all associated baseball food!
- I started food blogging in early 2016. It's hard to believe it's been 9 years! I was entering a lot of recipe competitions at the time, so I was constantly thinking about recipe ideas. I wanted to share those recipes and write about food. I wasn't sure if I'd even like it, and I'm still loving it!
- I hate water slides! I got stuck in one once and had someone crash into me.
- I will eat pretty much any food except miscellaneous meat, liver, and Vegemite
- I love road trips, especially when I'm a passenger (this is me enjoying THE BEST apple pie on a recent summer road trip stop on the Alberta Prairies)
- I had planned to become a Social Worker when I started University, but I decided it wasn't for me and left the faculty
- I have a degree in Political Science and an after-degree certificate in Gerontology and have worked in seniors services and health care for 20+ years.
- By day, I have a great job in primary health care, where I work with family physicians & their staff on practice enrichment initiatives and integrating and supporting health team members in family practice clinics. I have been doing this for 12 + years.
- I prefer when there is harmony and everyone gets along.
- My favorite food is roast beef (prime rib).
- Like a true prairie gal, I LOVE my Saskatoon berry picking and everything Saskatoon berry related! Check out my Saskatoon Berry Recipes!
- I hate sewing, even buttons and mending.
- I am a bit obsessive, and when I enjoy something (like food), it's hard to pull me away from it.
- My favorite wine and food pairing is Vinho Verde and Miss Vickie's S&V potato chips
- Originally from Winnipeg, I have lived in Calgary, Alberta, for the last 32 years.
- Most importantly, I am Mom to Clayton (19) and Abby (17) and wife to Dave. Spending time with them is what I love more than anything in this world!
I LOVE all things food!
I love all things food and spend much of my spare time immersed in it. As you can see, my food interests are pretty eclectic, and I find myself meandering down many different food roads. I also tend to ramble on about food. I started this blog to share those food meanderings and ramblings. If you want to know how my love affair with making food began, I believe that this article encapsulates it.
Featured Foodie
You can also read more about me and why I started this food blog in my Featured Foodie Interview with Food Bloggers of Canada.
Award-winning Recipes
I love to create recipes for contests because it allows me to be creative and think outside my box. My original and contest winning recipes (See award winners list here) have been published in Taste of Home magazine, Saltscape Magazine, Simple and Delicious, Better Homes and Gardens Family Circle Hometown Cooking Cookbook, The Old Farmer’s Almanac Readers’ Best Recipes 25th Anniversary Edition Cookbook, Calgary's Child Magazine, Safeway Destination Cheese Champions, Farmers' Almanac. My recipes have also been featured on Huffpost.com and Parade.com, among other publications and on several websites.
I was a Masterchef Canada (At Home) Finalist in 2018. I have also been included in The 100 Best Canadian Food Blogs and Websites in 2025, The 25 Best Calgary Food Blogs and Websites in 2025, The 50 Best Food and Cooking Blogs, and you can catch me over on Punchfork!
You can also listen to my interview about recipe contests, with Megan Porta on the podcast Eat, Blog Talk!
E-Cook-Book
I recently created an e-cookbook with a collection of my Award-Winning Recipes. Just sign up below, and as a gift for becoming a subscriber, you'll receive a FREE download of my Award-Winning Recipes E-Cookbook~!
Family Recipes
Both my Grandma and my Baba were amazing bakers and cooks and had a huge influence on me. I am grateful to still have my Grandma and so many of her recipes, but unfortunately, I have very few of my Baba's. I want my children and future generations to have my recipes, and that is another reason I started this blog. I also want to share wonderful recipes with the world because I believe that great food is meant to be shared!
See some of my most popular recipes:
Tried, Tested & Truly Loved!
Because I am often testing new recipes for competitions, my family and colleagues all serve as fearless guinea pigs for many of my food creations. This guarantees that my recipes are thoroughly tested!
On a weekly basis I will share my own contest-winning recipes/other food inventions and my favorite recipes, as well as tips and updates. I hope you will find something helpful and/or interesting at Food Meanderings.
Contact me: EMAIL: [email protected]
