Life is crazy. beautiful. deep. strange. heartbreaking. wonderful. worth it!
If I were to sit down and write this post in 2012, roughly 12 years ago at the time of writing this…I’d have been an alcoholic who had just gotten released from jail for driving under the influence and fleeing from my arresting officer. Now, before you go send me a message about what a terrible person I am for doing that…read the rest of my story. Then, if you still feel you must…go right ahead…I deserve it.
Then, shortly after being arrested, paying my fines, and spending another two weeks on house arrest, I was deployed for the second time (to Afghanistan). I returned home and feel right back into my old ways, but I did meet a really special woman who reminded me that alcohol wasn’t a prerequisite to an enjoyable life. 6 months after meeting I asked her to marry me, and after having four kids…all born in four different states (Indiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, and South Carolina) we are officially closing in on 10 years of marriage.
The first 6-7 years of that marriage were pretty rough, as our values, principles, cohesion, parenting, and more were all out of whack. We were doing fine…but we knew that we wanted more than just fine.
Somewhere in this mix I also wrote a best-selling book which shares much more in-depth about my life, my struggles, what lead me to addiction, how I overcame it, and built quite an amazing life on top of that foundation of pure struggle with my wife still by my side. If you want to read more about it, you can buy a copy of that book here.
This photo was taken shortly after I published my book. I reached out to my local police department and asked them if I’d be able to meet up with a certain officer. That officer happened to be the man who arrested me the night of January 28th, 2012. I’m grateful for him, and I wanted to let him know I was doing much better then the night we first met, and to give him a copy of my book. Second chances work, my friends.
Although you likely know me for my recipes…I’m not just a guy who cooks food.
I’m always open to chat if you think I' might be able to help you in other areas of life beyond food, however, I also understand that that’s likely why you came across my site…so onto the food, eh?!
As you could imagine, I began posting on social media for much different reasons than food. I don’t know if I ever shared about food prior to around September of 2022, which is when I shared my first food recipe to Instagram. I had asked myself…”what if I just keep with this for a year to see what happens?”
Well, it didn’t take more than about three months for one of my videos to go viral and for me to quickly see how social media can change your life. My total social media following went from around 2,000 to nearly 200,000 in just over a year. I’m still trying to determine if this is real or not…haha!
And now, at the time of writing this, about a year and a half after my first post, I’m more committed than ever to helping families cook more meals at home with quality ingredients, and sit down to enjoy those meals with people they love. Because not only is the quality of our food vitally important to our overall health, but so is our social life and the closeness of the relationships we keep. I learned this universal truth as I walked through my struggles with alcoholism. The people you allow into your life will, full stop, make you or break you. And what’s more, if you aren’t pouring into your kids, hearing about their day and instilling proper values into them at a young age; and what better place than around the dinner table, well then you might as well just throw them to the wolves and pray for the best.
I’m here to create a community of committed parents who are willing to do the work necessary to raise up the next generation of youth with sound principles and values.
And if you ask me…what better place to begin than at the dinner table?
If you’re looking to start making more meals at home, or simply add to your existing recipe repertoire, then you’re in the right place. Just click shop for my current, and always expanding, list of home cooking recipe resources.
And if you want to get away from the crap they call bread in stores, and begin making your own delicious sourdough breads, then I’ve got you covered whether this is the first time you’ve heard the words sourdough and bread used together, or you’ve been at it for years.
For the complete Sourdough Newbies: Sourdough 101
For those already proficient with Sourdough: Sourdough 201