Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Beefy Potato Rivel Soup

Beefy Potato-Rivel Soup (Caution---not exact measurements!)





I tried a new soup today that I remembered from long ago, and the guys really liked it. It's a great comfort food in bad weather--and depending on what other veggies you put in and what you make the rivels out of it, can even be "healthy"! Note that I just added and stirred, so the measurements are not exact.


4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed small (like smaller than dice)
 One small roast
Beef base
Minced onion
Pepper
Parlsey
Bay leaves
Rivels: 1 1/2 cup flour (any kind); 1 egg; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp baking powder; cold water as needed


1. Cook roast in crock pot overnight seasoned as you like your roast seasoned (or in oven cooking bag for three or four hours at 250 to 300 depending on roast size)--or you can use a can of beef (large).

2. Put water on to boil (10 to 12 cups?).

3. Mix up rivels while water is coming to a boil by doing the following:
         a. Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder
         b. Cut in egg.
         c. Cut in ice water as needed to form dough that's manageable. (I just did all of this with two forks in a huge cereal bowl...)
        d. Pat dough out until it's really flat and break off or cut off little tiny pieces like teeny tadpoles. (I needed my soup for noon the next day, so I did this the night before and just left them out on the cutting board overnight. They don't really have to dry necessarily.)

Note: The picture above is Jakie cutting the rivels out of long, thin snakes of dough--with a pizza cutter. Then I just ran the pizza cutter over and through them all to cut them even smaller. It was much faster than the breaking off pieces.

4. Boil potatoes until thoroughly cooked. (I put mine in a glass measure with 1/4 cup water tightly covered with plastic wrap and cook for eight minutes or so until done.)

5. Once rivels are cooked, add beef base (or you could have used broth to cook the rivels in)--tons to make it beefy-- and seasonings to taste (minced onion, pepper, garlic,  bay leaves (4 or so)).

6. Then drain potatoes and add them to the rivels/broth.

7. Then shred meat and add it and any juices.

8. Simmer for an hour or so until flavors are well mixed.

Note: You could precook carrots, celery, and/or green beans too and add them. But I've been pushing the veggie soups a lot, so decided to just do rivels and potatoes.

Easy One-Pot Shrimp Alfredo







 For Christmas, we love to have shrimp! We start out at the end of November having shrimp cocktail and breaded shrimp for our family decorating night. Then we move into the first week of December or so and have Shrimp Alfredo for our White Christmas movie night. (It started out as White Spaghetti and White Christmas...get it?) Then for Christmas Eve, we bring out the cocktail shrimp again.

Then our shrimp days are over. We literally do not have shrimp any other time of year...sadness. Too many teens and young adults and boys and hearty eaters and....well, that equals a lot of shrimp, which equals a lot of money!

So, this is our holiday recipe. However, it is almost as good made with boneless, skinless chicken breast too!


'

                      Shrimp (or Chicken) Alfredo

4 to 6 lbs shrimp (or chicken tenders)
2 or 3 sticks of butter
Italian seasoning
garlic and wine seasoning
black pepper
minced garlic
parsley
oregano
salt
3 lbs fettucini (sp?)
12 oz cream cheese
1 pint half and half
1 pint whipping cream
16 oz (up to 2 lbs, if wanted--don't use powdered Parmesan!) Italian finely shredded cheese blend (all white)


1. Boil pasta until al dente.

2. Melt butter and add seasonings (not sure of amounts--we just keep adding and tasting!)

3. Detail shrimp (defrost first) and drain/blot with paper towel.

4. Stir fry the shrimp in large skillet in the butter and lots of seasonings. (We do four batches.) Make this as if you were making garlic chicken tenders or shrimp scampi--you want the meat well-seasoned. We hate it when it tastes like pasta with white sauce and boiled chicken or shrimp! ;)

5. Drain the pasta and add the cream cheese and white cheese and stir until they are melted.

6. Add half and half, whipping cream, and shrimp/butter mixture to pasta/cheese mixture. Add lots more yummy seasonings!

7. Stir until yummy and heated through.


Serves twelve hungry people!