Knoephla soup - Dairy Foods

If you follow me on Twitter you know that I was cooking up a storm last weekend for Erik's birthday. Seriously, I should have moved a cot and slept in the kitchen I was in there so much. I made knoepha soup, homemade sloppy joes, mac n cheese and bacon-wrapped meatloaf over the course of three days.

Erik loved all the food (what dude wouldn't?), especially this knoephla soup. Knoephla soup is a traditional German soup that Erik grew up eating in North Dakota. The soup is creamy and full of carbs, the comfort kind. The photo is very simple and you may be wondering why I didn't at least add a pinch of parsley for color. That's not what this soup is about. It's about filling you up; stomach and soul. It's simple, heart-warming soup and I now love it as much as Erik does.

Knoephla soup (recipe adapted from many sources: Taste of Home and Erik's mom's cookbooks from Napoleon, ND)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, cubed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, grated
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 cups water
7 chicken bouillon cubes

Knoephla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
5 to 6 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large skillet, melt butter; cook potatoes and onion for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Add milk, cream and heat through but do not boil. Set aside. In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, bring water and bouillon to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine first four knoephla ingredients to form a stiff dough. Roll into a 1/2-in. rope. Cut into 1/4-in. pieces and drop into boiling broth. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the potato mixture; heat through.

Please don't be discouraged by having to make homemade dough/dumplings, it is really quite easy. I promise. We lapped the soup up with this homemade bread I made a few days earlier. Yeah...you don't get much more of a carb overload than this!

Quick shout-out to my mother-in-law. Happy birthday, Karen! I hope you have a wonderful day and I have you to thank for Erik's love of hearty German food all the wonderful cookbooks you have given me!