I've tried the recipe as-is a few times and it is REALLY good, but time consuming. I had a hectic family day and knew dinner was going to have to be fast and on the fly, so I took a chance on speeding it up. I doubled the recipe and "made" buttermilk by adding 1 Tb of white vinegar for each cup of milk and let it sit for 10 min before adding it to the recipe. (You can also use lemon juice.) I put every single ingredient except the meat in a large bowl and beat the tar out of it until it was a thick batter and free of lumps - like pancake batter. It required a little more flour to accomplish this, so I added more spices to compensate. I cut up the meat, tossed it in the batter, mixed it to coat, then covered it and threw it in the fridge for the afternoon. When I got home, I heated up the Fry Daddy and mixed the meat/batter again. WARNING - using the frying basket did not work for me at all!! The batter oozed into the drain holes and the meat stuck to the bottom of the basket. I could not get it off until the basket cooled and I could safely take a fork to it and break the meat/batter apart. However, removing the fry basket and putting the battered meat directly into the Fry Daddy worked like a charm! It took a little longer than 5 minutes per batch to get that beautiful brown coating, but it was so worth it! The kids were waiting in line by the fryer because they were eating them faster than I could cook them!! Thank you so much for the great recipe!

Reviewed On: Apr. 15, 2012

I gave it 5 stars because I think the recipe would have been great if I didn't mess with it. I followed it exactly in the beginning (first two hours of cooking) and the broth tasted wonderful while it was cooking. But my hubby likes potatoes so I added several diced reds during the last 45 minutes of cooking. It somehow sucked ALL the seasoning out of the broth and it was totally bland. So . . . lesson learned - don't mess with a good thing.

Reviewed On: Jan. 4, 2012

Only 4 stars because I did use alot of suggested modifications to hop it up. Keep the "sauce" the same with the exception of using only half the cream, but double the meat, veggies, and tortellini. I also threw in about 5 red potatoes cut into small squares. What I did not know was how to use cornstarch to thicken it up. When I added the powder to the pot, it balled up into pasty chunks that I had to dig out with a spoon. To thicken with cornstarch, mix a tablespoon of powder in a small bowl with a bit of water to make a paste, THEN add it to the pot. This makes a TON of soup - use a huge stock pot! I fed 7 people, 3 teens included, and still have enough to freeze for another full dinner for us.

Reviewed On: Nov. 28, 2011