Kanoodling

I say Kanoodle, you say knoedel... let's call the whole thing off!

In an effort to broaden our families culinary horizons I stumbled into the world of Knoedels.

Knoedel is an Austrian dish of pure comfort and merriment. By definition, they are big, round, poached or boiled dumplings made without yeast. By taste they are hot, moist, yumminess floating in delicious broth.

I found many recipes for Knoedels made out of potatoes, but I didn't have any potatoes on hand. Then I found a recipe for Knoedels made out of Cream of Wheat. Yeah, Cream of Wheat, like the yummy hot cereal that we love so much in winter time. Also known as Farina (C of W) Knoedels. I browsed over the recipe (cream of wheat... good, butter... good, eggs... good!) and decided that there was nothing not to like and oh boy, was I ever right!

The easy, peasy recipe:
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
1 cup cream of wheat

Mix together butter (just slightly softened) and 2 eggs. Add salt and slowly stir in Cream of Wheat. Shape into small teaspoon sized balls(they will triple in size when cooked). Drop all balls into boiling water at the same time. Boil uncovered for 2 minutes then remove from heat and cover for 15 minutes... don't peek at them durning this time. After the 15 minutes remove dumplings from hot water and add them to 1 quart (32 oz) of hot broth (chicken, veggie, ham, beef). Serve hot and enjoy.
The kids (especially Ben) and I thought these were marvelous. Even Big Ben liked them, but suggested he would rather this as an accompaniment to a meal rather than making it the main dish.

I envision these as being fantastic when you are sick, easy when you don't have many ingredients on hand and a wonderful "memory" food for the kids.

...and after some additional reading I discovered that when my order of whole wheat comes in a few weeks, I will be able to grind my own wheat into farina (C of W), making this a VERY inexpensive meal as well.