Happy Father's Day, Papa and Paw Crunk!

Every year on Father's Day, my grandparents and I gather at my parents' house for a celebratory meal honoring the family patriarchs — my daddy and my paw. Here's my paw (my dad's dad) with me and my daddy. As you can see, I didn't get the tall genes:

Anyone who's been following this blog for awhile knows how freakin' awesome my dad is. He's a bad-ass biker dude with a big ole heart, and he often sponsors cookbook and shopping spree giveaways on this blog ... just because he feels like it. He's not vegan, but he gave up fishing and hunting after I went vegan. He has magical powers that give him the ability to fix anything that's broken — from computers to pieces of furniture. He likes skulls, Harleys, and rock 'n' roll, and his favorite TV show is the Squidbillies on Adult Swim. He's always, always there when friends and family need him. He's pretty much the coolest dude in the universe.

My dad's favorite food right now is French Fry Po' Boys, which we first had in New Orleans last fall. We've since reserved making this ridiculously-carby sandwich for special occasions:

Steak fries are topped with Daiya mozzarella (I was out of cheddar or I would have used that instead), tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and ketchup.

Here's my plate — French Fry Po' Boy, sweet potato fries (yes, we had fries with fry sandwiches), Granny's fresh green beans and new potatoes, and Mama's tangy-sweet baked beans:

My mom made a vegan chocolate cake for dessert because my Paw LOVES chocolate cake. Ever since I was a little kid, I can remember my grandpa's sweet tooth. This man could probably eat dessert for every meal ... especially if it's chocolate cake:

And my Granny brought THREE vegan cream pies! Keep in mind that there were only six people at this celebration. That's enough for us to have a half a pie each. She made so many because she was testing variations of a pie that's going in my cookbook. Here's a Pineapple Cream Pie:

Here's the same pie with added coconut:

And here's a mandarin orange version:

I tried a sliver of each, plus a slice of chocolate cake. Needless to say, my sweet tooth was more than satisfied.

Happy Father's Day, Papa and Paw Crunk!