Ancestral Recipe

I was listening to a radio show a few weeks ago, and the person being interviewed said she lived in an "ancestral home." What immediately came to my mind is she must live in a cave or something . . . not so! She just lives in a home that is 100 years old. :) 

Although we live in the home David's great grandparents originally built, I had never thought of this as an "ancestral home," but I suppose it is. Even though we have changed every corner of this house on the inside, except for a tiny hall closet, the shell is still the original 65 year old home his great grandparents. Really, ancestry is something that crosses my mind every day, either by a memory of a grandparent or by flipping through my recipes.

I have many of those special recipes, but this is the most requested at the Melius table.

My Nathan loves his knepfla--he even writes about it at school.

I don't have photo of the finished product because I never have a chance to!

If you end up with tiny dumpling-like pieces of dough, you did it right.

This is the recipe my Great Grandma Pfeifle used. She immigrated from Russia as a girl and married my Great Grandpa Ben Pfeifle in South Dakota. They were farmers north of Eureka and survived mostly on what they had--including flour and eggs!

We hope you enjoy this ancestral recipe as much as we do.

Knepfla

Great Grandma Christina (Schumacher) Pfeifle

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cold water to make a stiff dough

Bring salted water to a boil. Cut knepfla into small pieces into boiling water and boil for about 10 minutes.

Drain and serve with cup up (cooked) bacon.

If you are a real German, you will also cover this in sauerkraut!