I am The Average Vegan Dad – welcome to my blog and vegan recipe site! I am so glad you’re here! I am just your average midwest Dad and Papa and if I can do this, so can you! I have been a vegan for over 9 years and I have been on a quest to discover and create vegan food with big and bold flavors. My wife and I love great food. We also care deeply about the treatment and welfare of animals. So many people think you will sacrifice great food when you eliminate animal products, but honestly, the exact opposite is true. Once you open your mind to all the great flavors, textures and spices that are available, you will realize you have been really missing out! And that is my passion – showing you how you can create AWESOME food, while reducing the suffering of our animal friends, improving your health and making a positive impact on our planet. Who can say NO to that?
MY VISION
I realize not everyone is ready to adopt a vegan or plant based life style. While that is a hard concept for me to accept, it is the reality of our world. I am not here to judge – I am here to share information and a different viewpoint to hopefully capture your attention and make you stop and think. So my vision is to share my journey, show you how your can eat great food without animal products and hopefully encourage you to give a receipt a try. If I can motivate you to eat at least one plant based meal a week, we all win. I guarantee once you start to reduce your intake of animal products, and yes, that includes dairy, you will feel better, have more energy, more clarity of thought, less inflamation and on and on. The benefits are endless to both you and your world! Go ahead, give it a try.
MY COOKING
I LOVE TO EAT! I also love to eat great tasting food with big, bold flavors. Spicy, Garlicy, Savory, Robust with great depth and full of flavor. I want to create food that people WANT TO EAT and is so good that the fact that it is plant based is not even a thought. I want it to be restaurant good – ok, better than restaurant good. I want you to say “I can’t believe how good this is” and “If I could cook this way I would be plant based too!” Well, here’s a litte secret – YOU CAN COOK THIS WAY! Yes it takes a little time and effort and yes there is a learning curve, but to eat great food, feel great and help improve our world all at once seems worth a little effort to me.
Let me warn you now, I don’t always measure my spices or ingredients. I start with a base and then I just add as I go until I get the big taste I am looking for. I am completely aware that this doesn’t play well on a recipe site so I will do my best to give you solid measurements, but don’t be afraid to add “a little more” because I more than likely will! I will share my best recipes, I will keep adding new ones as I go and we will learn together. BUT…..if you’re looking for beautiful pictures and long dialogues about how and why each step exists, my motivation for adding each spice or flowing and/or flowery adjectives about the process, there are plenty of those great sites to visit. Many people I know make comments about recipe sites – “Just get me to the darn recipe please!” Like I said before, my thought is your time is short, so let’s get right to the recipes, start cooking and eating great tasting vegan food.
FAMILY AND MORE
If you are still reading, thank you! My family is my biggest passion. I am a proud Husband, Father, Papa and dog parent to 3 great dogs. We have 4 adult kids all making their way through life. It is so rewarding to be able to participate in each of their journey’s. Cycling is also passion – road, mountain and fat tire in the winter. My goal is to be faster today than I was yesterday and to just enjoy the “RIDE”. I cross train using the Insanity Workouts by BeachBody. If you don’t pay attention to your core you will be sorry! You may also find me in one of the trout streams in the area – I am an extreme amateur at fly fishing, but nothing is more rewarding than getting that trout to rise to your fly – Trust me on that! And yes I “catch and release”.
Professionally, I started on the sales floor of a regional sporting goods retailer and I worked my way up to EVP/COO. I have run small companies and I am in the process of starting my own business. I have a passion for servant leadership and helping people be the best they can be. My background spans a lot of different areas, operations, merchandising, marketing, distribution, customer service. If you are small business owner I would love to connect to see if I could help your business in any way. Contact me (form at the bottom of the page) and let’s discuss!
