"Thanks, daddio"

If you know the movie where the title of this entry is from, then you are awesome. That is all.

No just kidding, there is SO much more! ;)

Obviously, as you all are aware of, today was Father's Day. I hope you were able to celebrate with you dad today. Or at least call him. I'm sure you all say this about your dad's, and that's fine. That's how it should be. But my dad is seriously THE hardest worker I know.

He works all day as a home health-care nurse taking care of an Indian boy who drowned when he was younger. The boy is, well, no longer a boy, and in fact he is my age I think. So my dad has to lift him, carry him, stretch his arms and legs out, feed him, change his diaper, ect, ect.

On top of all that, the family gives him only 10 minutes to eat, which, if you know my dad, is only mere seconds for him. I'm not joking, my dad takes at least 45 minutes to eat a bowl of oatmeal... a small bowl. And besides only giving him 5 seconds to chow down his lunch, he is forced to eat in the garage of all places. The family is of the Sihk religion, (pronounced 'Seek' and I am totally unsure about the spelling.) so because of their religion, no meat is allow to be eaten in the house... and besides being forced to scarf down his food in solitude, they sometimes make him do chores around the house. Not in the job description I might add.Yell at him for no reason sometimes, get really mad at him and aren't afraid to show it, and just seem to take advantage of him.

Now I've known that this job has been very difficult for my dad, but not until recently was I aware of how this job affected him. He recently had to take care of his patient during his sister's graduation party, where there would be many, many Indian people, much Indian music, a lot of Indian food, and just basically he probably felt like he was in India for a day. He probably feels that way every day. He mentioned before he left how lonely his day would be, and it's true. A white guy who loves Jesus, surrounded by a completely different culture all day.

So for Father's day I wanted to do something really special for him because he is really special to me. He's my dad, duh! A few days ago when I got in a cleaning kick and I was cleaning out one of my mom's kitchen cabinets you could no longer open, I found a recipe book from my Grandma's church (my dad's mom) in the '70s. I never really got the chance to know my Grandma that well, and I skimmed through the cookbook to see if she had submitted any recipes. As I was looking through all the names of who submitted the recipe, Betsy, Merna, Doris... I made sure to dog tag all the ones by Joan Cleveland. I then decided to attempt to make something that my Grandma had made in the past. Hopefully my dad ate it! And remember it!

I selected a recipe that had my dad's name written all over it: Honey Oatmeal Cake. And let me tell you, it. was. a. success.

It tastes like carrot cake, without the carrots. Or as my mom thought, like a gingerbread cake. Regardless, it was tasty. Sweet, but not too sweet. Perfect for my dad. Involved lots of rolled oats, hello? oatmeal! A ton of honey. I mean duh! And whole wheat flour. That just spells out R-O-N right there! Top it with come Cool Whip, or my brother's homemade whipped cream, you pick!and enjoy!




Here's the recipe!

Honey Oatmeal Cake

1 C rolled oats
1 stick butter
1 & 1/4 C boiling water
1 & 1/2 C honey <--- oh yeah, lots of honey! I used up a whole jar!
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 & 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Put oats, butter, and boiling water in large bowl. Let stand for 20 min. Add honey, vanilla and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and pour into greased and floured (which I made sure to do!) 9x12" pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. (30 minutes was perfect!)

Super easy, right? Yes. It was so moist, perfect sweetness, and put a smile on my dad's face.


See??? See that smile??! And it could do that for your dad, or anyone else you care about too!


I'd call that a winner right there. I ate it all too fast to even get a picture of the before!

Of course we ate dinner before dessert, and my brother made a great Tilapia with cilantro/chipotle sauce, and my mom made some homemade Mexican rice and fresh green beans. It was quite the complete meal.





Very tasty, very yummy, and I'm still full.