Rule of Two Sausage Dish

This is a dinner that Trav's mom made once and I have sorta turned into my own. She makes it with just the pots and sausage. I wanted an easy way to add a vegetable that offered more than just carbs, so that's where the green beans come in. And I don't think it actually has a name, so I named it 'Rule of Two Sausage Dish' just this very moment. You'll see why as you read on...although I bet you can guess why...

Ingredients:
2 packages beef smoked sausage (I use Hillshire Farm because it's cheap @ Wal-Mart)
2 cans cut green beans
2 large russet potatoes
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (10.75 oz each, or 1 big 26oz can, if you like... I'll explain more in the directions)

Directions:
Chop sausage and potatoes into bite sized pieces. Drain green beans and mix everything together in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. (If you have one with extra deep sides, that would be easiest for you to mix it in.) Mix all the ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for around 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Basically until the potatoes are done. As far as using two 10.75 oz cans of soup versus the big 26 oz can, it depends on the consistency you prefer and how you're cooking it. When I cook it in the oven, I use the big can because I like my food to be plenty moist and have lots of whatever the "sauce" is. But, the big can is too much if you're cooking in the crock pot, so that's when I use the small cans. And for those who like a low-fat alternative... you can substitute the beef sausage for a turkey blend option and you can substitute the regular Cream of Mushroom Soup with the Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup. I do not recommend both substitutions in the same dish, however, because the flavor will be a bit bland. If I had to pick the substitution that tastes the best it's the regular beef sausage with the Healthy request soup; hands down. The texture and flavor of the regular sausage is SOOOO much better. And even though the crock pot is obviously the more comfortable choice during the summer months, the oven baked version is extra yummy because the top of the dish gets a bit of a crispy texture as it cooks that it doesn't have the chance to develop in the crock pot.

I made this for my sister tonight, but forgot to take a picture. I'm making it for us on Monday (in the crock pot) so hopefully I'll remember to snap a shot then.

2nd Attempt at Katie's 2nd Birthday Cake

Ok. The third time better be the charm because the fondant turned out SO much better, but the cake layers gave me a bunch of trouble. The layers out of a box were no problem, but the homemade layer was a disaster to get out of the pan. Lesson learned: You cannot "glue" a cake back together with yummy frosting and expect it to look good. Hence, the giant canyon and lumps all through this cake. Oh well. The fondant turned out really well. I loved the gel food coloring! I can never go back to liquid drops. I just need to remember to let the gel icing letters dry before putting them in the cake. (And no more cakes from scratch for this project!)

The circle cookie cutter represents the "2" candle that I keep forgetting to pick up. I decided that it would look better to have the candle on fondant clouds rather than the clubhouse circular cutouts. Next time I need to dust the cloud with powdered sugar to make it look less shiny. And that darn leg is still too long. Also just noticed that the black accents on the window panes are too thick.

This time I also opted for grass accents instead of a border of grass along the bottom. I couldn't get the grass border to look right. I think this looks so much better. (Don't laugh at my canyon. Next time the cake won't break and slide off.)

I also used the smallest roller guide for thinner accents this time. Much better. Still didn't seem to need anything to help the accents adhere to the cake. Just applied them to the cake when it was right out of the fridge.

Still not sure that the doghouse is worth it. This time put black accents on the handy hot air balloon (per Travis' request) and it looks a lot better. I'm so much happier with the colors this round. Very "animated."

1st Attempt at Katie's 2nd Birthday Cake

(This post is more for me than anyone else. Want to document what I learned before I forget.)

Make 2 batches of marshmallow fondant for a 3 layer, 9 inch round cake. 1 batch to cover the cake and 1 for the accents.

1 batch of Marshmallow Fondant:
*(1 1/2) 10.5 oz bag mini marshmallows (Not Great Value, but Market Pantry is good. Jet-Puffed is best. Should probably use name brand to cover cake and store brand for accents and designs.)
*(1) 2 lb bag powdered sugar, sifted (Actually about a cup shy of the whole bag. Go by texture, not measurements.)
*2 tbsp water
*shortening

Directions: Grease microwavable bowl, mixing bowl, dough hook, and spatula with shortening. Put marshmallows and water in bowl and microwave about 60-75 seconds. Stir. It should be a gooey, lumpy, sticky heap. Put about 1/2 bag sifted powdered sugar into mixing bowl. Add marshmallows and food coloring, if desired. Mix on low until sugar and marshmallows are mixed. Keep adding sugar and mixing until it looks like dough. Grease counter top and hands. Finish kneading by hand until it's like a soft cookie dough. Refrigerate in a sealed plastic bag (not saran wrap like in the tutorial or it might dry out) for a few hours. It should be a little hard to knead so that it doesn't get to warm when you roll and cut it.

Covering cake with fondant: Tutorials said to grease counter and dust with powdered sugar. I didn't want my color to fade, so I skipped the extra sugar and it worked out fine. Not sure how much of a difference it would have made. Roll out fondant using a greased fondant roller. I like the little guides because it's so much easier to get it all an even thickness. Tutorials said to ice the cake and let it crust up before applying fondant. Then, either apply piping gel or spray with water to help the fondant stick to the cake. I sort of did that. I let it cool in the fridge and applied it without piping gel (because that's just one more thing to buy.!) or water. We'll see how that turns out. Tutorial said to make it about 1/4 inch thick to hide the bumps of the cake. Fondant needs to be rolled out to a width that is the height plus the diameter of your cake. Keep picking it up and and putting it down between rolls so it doesn't stick. When it's the right thickness and width place roller over the middle of it. Flop over one side of the fondant, hold the roller at each end, and quickly line it up and roll it onto the cake. Lift and pat the fondant until it smooths and lies flat on the cake. Tutorial said to use a fondant smoother, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it made. Cut the excess off with a pizza cutter, it's way easier than that little fondant cutter. Refrigerate immediately.

Notes for improvement:
liquid food coloring is a pain to mix into fondant by hand, will try gels
cakes from scratch don't come out of the pan as easily as boxed mixes, nor do they keep as long
icing from scratch doesn't keep as well ( at least the one I tried didn't)
it takes 2 .25- 2.5 ready-made frosting containers for a 3 layer, 9 in round cake
skim the mound in the center of bottom and middle layers before "assembling"

*Going to try a more vibrant sky blue color next time. (And not let it dry out. Arg!) Blue slide is too dark. Leg is too long. Pink stars will have the letters of her name on them. Circles on top of cake will hold "2" candle and will be pink, purple, and yellow or the same color as the blue slide will be. Next time will do accents on windows and door in black. Not sure if it's worth it to include Pluto's doghouse.