I am a stay at home dad of three kids, Grace (7), Sophie (6), and Matthew (4). My wife Beth, works outside of the home and is the prime (and founding) effort effort behind our shared blog, Simply Budgeted. I also write at This Cookin’ Dad. I am a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom where I served proudly in the Infantry with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault!). I have a degree in Finance from George Mason University that I hardly use and a Master’s in Education from The University of Mary Washington that I would love to put to use in the classroom one day.
Not having a job, though, has proven to be a great opportunity. Over the past couple of years, I have been able to stay home with all of my kids and we have gotten very close. I have also been able to hone my cooking skills and I find great joy in putting good, healthy food on the table. I am not a trained chef, but I do virtually all of the cooking for the family, watch way too many cooking shows, and get great ideas from magazines and the internet. Over the years, I have adapted my grandmother’s recipes to meet the needs of my family. Even though I have a bookshelf full of cookbooks, I am constantly getting fussed at for not using them enough.
In 2011, I starting working with Beth on her blog. She would often ask me for the recipes that I used for certain dishes. Since I don’t really use recipes, I would have to try to come up with them on the fly, often confusing her to the point that I just had to write it myself. In July 2011, I began directly collaborating with Simply Budgeted, posting recipes, meal plans, kitchen tips and review, and lots of other content. At that point, I also took more interest in taking pictures of the food, providing more photography content to our blog posts.
On December 1, 2012, I attended the Mixed Conference and met up with other food bloggers and food photographers and videographers. That was when I decided to create my This Cookin’ Dad blog that focuses not only on recipes, but on the development of those recipes, my growing interest in food photography and all of the stuff that happens leading up to that gorgeous “hero shot”, and, in general, just my overall love of food. For more about this, check out my Why I Blog page.
When I’m not cooking, breaking up fights in the living room, or whisking kids back and forth to school or preschool, I love to watch TV (MMA, cooking shows, and comedy news shows are my faves!), play “silly games” (as Beth calls them) on the computer or XBox, and check projects off of my “Honey Do” list. If I get to use some power tools, I’m so much the happier. I’m also a pretty big fitness fanatic when my back and knees aren’t acting up. I’ve run a Tough Mudder, a couple of Warrior Dashes, two half marathons, and a number of 5K’s, 8K’s, etc. I try to stay in shape so that I can keep up with my little ones!