Father's day (100th post!)

My dad is rather lucky. Not only because he was blessed with three beautiful and smart children, but also because he gets to celebrate Father's day twice a year! In the US, Father's day is in June and coincides with his birthday. In Finland, father's day is today (2nd Sunday in November). 

The flags are out and I believe the stores are closed. 

With my father in mind, I baked this cake.

Due to his apparent celiac disease, the cake has to be gluten-free. I do this by using special gluten-free flour (it's actually wheat starch). And because we baked those raspberry lemonade bars yesterday, we had no eggs left. This brought me to a slight dilemma; what can I bake that is egg-free? I immediately thought of my favorite chocolate cake recipe, but I didn't want to do anything chocolate-y (weiiiiird, I know). This lead me to search for vegan cake recipes! If you are ever out of milk, butter or eggs, search vegan! 

I used this recipe, but added the zest of one orange. I think I baked it on the slightly almost done side, I was just feeling a bit antsy I suppose to get it done!

I drizzled the cake with a bit of fresh squeezed orange juice and covered it in drained, crushed pineapple (1 small can). Then I added some orange slices to the top, because I was planning on just dolloping some whipped cream on it. 

Then I had a better idea! 

I finally tried this rosette piping tutorial! I have been wanting to use it for so long now, and I am so surprised at how easy it was! I can't wait for the opportunity to do this again! Next time, I think I'd like to use a stronger frosting, maybe buttercream. The whipped cream was a little loose to work with.

For dinner, we are making mexican rice casserole. This is made up completely from my head and only because we didn't have the amount of potatoes that I remembered. 

It was so good, it was all gone in one sitting. Fortunately I remembered to take a picture while there was just this much left!

I boiled rice for 6 till it was al dente. I cooked 400g of ground beef with 1 onion and 1 bell pepper and half the bag of frozen corn we had left over (about 200g). I added 1/2 packet of taco seasoning and then mixed the rice and meat together. Then I added some grated cheese and 1 diced tomato and mix it together. Into the buttered dish it went, I poured about 2.5 dl of cream on it and then baked it at 200c for about 35 min. Tasty! 

I think it would have been really good with some pickled jalapenos on top or mixed in, but I didn't want to add them since my mom doesn't like them. Hot sauce made a difference though, and everyone can add as much as they like.

I love you Isä! Hope you liked your father's day!

And thank you for reading! This is my 100th post, I am amazed I have come up with so much to say and share...and so thankful for the every day occurrences that I have begun to cherish thanks to blogging.

Not only that, but my photography has grown in leaps and bounds, too! :)

Happy 100th post, blog.