Eating Waffles

This will be the perfect Halloween ever! Temps are in the upper 60s and will drop to the upper 50s, the wind is low, the sky is clear, the moon is full, and tomorrow we all get an extra hour of sleep! Too bad I am not a kid anymore and trick or treating is not acceptable for adults. For compensation, Garlic Butter Pasta  made Spooky style. Modifications Made: Spooky Colored Noodles ONLY: Took way more than a 1/4 tsp of food coloring to achieve brightly colored pasta.  It took closer to half a bottle.  Once noodles were cooked to very al dente, they were drained, and rinsed with cool water until the water ran clear of food coloring, and set aside. Garlic Butter Pasta: Wine was omitted.  Colored pasta was added to garlic butter sauce and tossed with mozzarella balls. Scaled for Likeability: Good Pasta had great flavor and no, it did not leave the mouth or plate stained.  The cheese balls melted into a gooey mess than was not desired. Should have added to the tops of the noodles directly

Love me some breakfast for dinner. Especially breakfast that is not sugar based. A plate of syrup laden pancakes does not make a great breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  It really should only be eaten as dessert, even when made with oatmeal and ground flax. Savory, soul filling breakfast like this Potato Fried Rice  on the other hand are what breakfast should be. Modifications Made: Crunchy, bright green edamame for nasty, mushy, green peas. Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You Way, way too much protein.  Maybe without the bacon or the ham or both this would have been great.  Just fried rice with egg and edamame.  Yes, that would have been perfect.  Guess I should have figured this would be the result as I do not eat meat in fried rice, just veggies.  Seemed like a good idea on paper.

Cranberries! Last night for dessert the entire table had two slices of artisan bread heavily toasted on the griddle, lathered in butter, and topped with a heaping tablespoon of homemade cranberry sauce. It was so, so good. Realizing not one new cranberry dessert had been made since having discovered the fabulous-ness of cranberries, Cranberry Orange Muffins were made straight away. Mini bites of tangy,  wonderfully popping, moist and fluffy cranberry muffins. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half.  Sugar was reduced to just under 1/4 cup. There is a difference between light and brown sugar.  Light brown sugar was used to not distract from the cranberry flavor. Since adding vanilla and yogurt, vanilla greek yogurt was used with a teaspoon of orange extract instead of vanilla and plain yogurt.  Zest of oranges and orange juice was combined into one tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate.  Fresh cranberries, not frozen.  Glaze was omitted. Scaled for Likability: Great! Ea

COLD! Cold, cold, cold. The low as the cool front came through last night was supposed to be in the mid 50s. Instead in dropped to low 40s with a wind howling rating of 25-30 mph. And guess where the winter gear was? In storage, of course. Needing a warm up from the toes up Louisiana Style Red Beans and Rice  was the hot ticket. An all day for warm toast red beans and rice, not the stuff from the can. Modifications Made: Beans were not soaked overnight. Not really understanding the need for fresh onion and garlic and powdered onion and garlic.  Therefore only fresh was used.  Meat was browned into large bits, beans and all other ingredients were added and allowed to cook until beans were tender.  Water and seasonings were adjusted as needed.  A splash of tabasco sauce was added when beans were just about done. Since the beans were cooked low and slow, smashing of the beans to make a thick consistency was really not needed. Scaled for Likability: The splash of vinegar based hot sauce ad

For over a year I have read about traditional Ramen soup, watched dozens and dozens of videos about the making of traditional Ramen soup, and then made comparisons to knock off Ramen soups requiring on a few cook hours instead of few days. It wasn't the soup stock that scared me it was the lack of access to the ingredients. Finally settling on a middle of the road Easy Chicken Ramen soup, new condiments were purchased and dinner was cooked. Modifications Made: White mushrooms for shiitake, regular ramen for yakisoba noodles, and added bean sprouts. Scaled for Likability: Good Good if the egg and chicken were not included.  Ramen eggs are not to this table's liking.  Luckily extra plain hard boiled eggs were made to switch out for the ramen egg.  Never before has chicken thighs been included in a ramen soup.  Chicken texture was weird.  Ramen soup tasted more like hot and sour soup but was good as I like hot and sour soup.  In fact the only thing missing to be hot and sour soup

Don't you love clean the fridge out week? We absolutely just love it at this table. NOT! Not now, not then, not ever. With six bowls of different leftovers and two quart bags of noodles it was time to get creative. Lunch was a hodgepodge of tacos and nachos.  Dinner on hand required three new items from the store but the results were worth the extra trip when Shrimp Lo Mein was completed and served. Modifications Made: 6 oz of shrimp, a combination of leftover whole wheat and white noodles, regular soy only, mirin for shaoxing wine. Scaled for Likability: Great Seriously, this was probably these best lo mein I have ever made.  And I don't even like shrimp in lo mein.  The sauce covered the noodles and the veggies, it was not sweet at all, the white pepper offered a completely different heat,  and the bean sprouts offered a great additional crunch.  I am in love.  So sad there were no leftovers. Leftover leftover lo mein.  Ha!

Many moons ago way back before the teen was even a blip, I attempted to make the classic version of beef bourguignon. Maybe it was the inexperience, maybe it was the cut of meat, maybe it misguided view of wine. Whatever the reason I don't remember enjoying the meal. With time and learnings I have come to appreciate cooking with ingredients outside my comfort such as wines. Not being a consumer of any alcohol it is hard to know what is good wine and what is bad wine.  Thankfully today there is the internet to help in learnings. Ever in my quest to cook cranberries in dinner, Cranberry Beef Bourguignon  was cooked yesterday and served to tonight. Modifications Made: Holy moly, this recipe stated it served six but called for two and half pounds of meat.  Therefore, this recipe was halved for all ingredients except the meat which only totaled .97 pounds. Cognac was omitted as the wine was enough alcohol flavoring for my taste.  Carrots were increased to four large sticks and mushrooms

Finding dishes using fresh cranberries is turning out to be more difficult than expected. Difficult if the dishes are not dessert, that is. Tonight's' dinner, One Pan Rosemary Chicken , held high expectations with just a few fresh ingredients including chicken thighs, rosemary, and of course cranberries.  Modifications Made: The recipe was more of a idea platform.  A idea where none of the instructions were followed. Chicken thighs were fried in skillet in bacon grease.  Once internal temp was reach, thighs were removed.  Marinade sauce was used to create a cranberry gravy.  Chicken was returned to gravy and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes adjusting water as needed to keep gravy from sticking. Scaled for Likability: Fail I just have two words to describe the reason for failure.  Sugar. Gravy. Nothing more needs to be said.  Gravy and gravy covered rice was removed. Chicken was peeled from the bone and a new batch of rice was made.  Deboned chicken was added to buttery rice and

Kabobs are so good and easy if one does not count the marinade time.  Some articles say to rest for 30 minutes, some say overnight.  I like most people don't plan ahead so mine rest in the marinade for as long as it takes to get the wood grill going.  Sometimes this is 30 minutes, sometimes this is an hour.  Hawaiian Kabobs were very good with just enough heat to offset the sweet.  Tonight I was looking for a less sweet version of marinade and The Best Beef Kabob Marinade sounded perfect with its high amount of  Worcestershire sauce and its low amount of sugar. Modifications Made: Honey for brown sugar and basil and parsley were omitted. Scaled for Likability: Good Tonight the meat only sat in the marinade for 30 minutes and with the larger chunks of meat the inner bits did not soak up flavor.  Also, I wanted the marinade to be a little stickier so it actually created a coating on the meat for a nice charred texture like the Hawaiian Kabobs   achieved .  Will give this ago again

Meals in college were some of the most random items mixed together to create a cheap and easy meal.  My ultimate failure was the time I combined a can of tuna with a box of chicken Rice-a-Roni".  It was not "The San Francisco treat..." but it was less than a dollar and it feed me for three meals.  Once I even added a bag of frozen mixed veggies making it a buck fifty in costs expanding to five meals.   See back then Rice-a-Roni was cheap and good.  Now it is still relatively cheap but not good.  It literally tastes just like salt.  Wanting a good rice pilaf to have with a side salad,  Sarah's Rice Pilaf  sounded like a great starting platform. Modifications Made:  Onion and garlic were switched out for powder. Scaled for Likability: Good For a super simple rice pilaf this was not bad.  And if compared to the box versions, it was great.  I think the key to good rice pilaf lies in the usage of quality chicken stock.  The kind that comes in a glass jar not the kind in a

  Traveling foods! There is nothing worse than traveling foods. Not the traveling that allows for stopping at local eateries but the traveling that is nationwide fast food/drive thru, never once stopping to enjoy the scenery food, the bland tasteless not homemade food. After having been traveling for two days or five crappy meals, it was nice to be able to cook flavorful, heart happy meals starting with Ji Dan Bing, The Chinese Breakfast of Champions . Modifications Made: We live in an uncultural food desert unless you want boring classic america foods such as burgers, hot dogs, and casseroles. If you desire rice wrappers, low sodium soy, or plum sauce you are out of luck.  Lets not even get crazy and desire things like shiitake mushrooms, shaoxing wine, or black sesame seeds.   With that hoisin sauce for sweet bean sauce and sweet chili sauce for hot chili bean sauce. Scaled for Likability: Good I thought they were fabulous and was ready to eat them tomorrow.  Chewing tortillas, eggs,

Its finally here!!! Cranberry season has arrived to my local grocer. Not wanting to miss out on the plethora of cranberry recipes that have been saved up, I bought two bags yesterday and put one bag to use today.  Cranberry Apple Pork Chops was the winning choice because pork steaks were on sale at $1.79/lb.  Modifications Made: Pork Steaks: Seasoned with Tony Chachere's and fried in bacon grease. Sauce:1/2 small yellow onion, finely diced 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, finely diced 1-1/2 cup fresh cranberries 15 oz mandarin oranges, undrained Salt To a saucepan, onion cooked till tender.  Apple, cranberries, and juice from oranges were added and cooked until apples were tender.  Oranges and a dash of salt were added and mixture allowed to rest.  If sauce to thin, one half teaspoon of cornstarch mixed in one teaspoon of water can be added to thicken. Scaled for Likability: Great The recipe for this cranberry apple sauce was right up my directional alley.  It mostly was an idea an

Nothing worse than changing a menu on the fly. Originally I was gonna cook this Greek Spaghetti . As I read over again and again I decided against it for its lack of flavorings and oily potential. An entire stick of butter, really? So literally at the last minute (the meat was browning on the stove) I decided to modify Quick and Easy Greek Spaghetti to suit my needs. A combination of both if your please. Modifications Made: This is will only cover the meat sauce.  Noodles are noodles and I would think you know how to make those. Ingredients: 1 lb lean ground beef 1 small yellow onion, diced 2 teaspoons garlic, minced 1 bag frozen spinach 8 ounces tomato juice 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon basil 1 can sliced mushrooms, undrained 8 ounces black olives, sliced in half 1/4 cup parmesan, grated Feta cheese, crumbled Instructions: To a large dutch oven, brown beef, onion, and garlic.  Add spinach, tomato juice, cinnamon, basil, mushrooms with juice, and black olives.  Cook on low for 30-45

I've said it before and I will say again, Pandemic 2020 alongside with the task of cooking new recipes every day for year has really broaden by cooking skills. Another step off into the previous fear and unknown cooking, stuffed shells. Taking the advice from a YouTube foodee who states all elements of a recipe must be tasty on their own, I decided  Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells sounded the perfect jumping off point for another new culinary treat. Modifications Made: Frozen spinach was thawed and drained very well in a paper towel. Scaled for Likability: Good Sailboats in a sea of marinara sauce was how I envisioned stuffed shells.  Sailboats run a ground was what I produced.  Stuffing inside the shells could hold its own on flavor, and empty shells in just marinara sauce could hold its own.  When combined with cheese, there was just not enough sauce resulting in dried out shell ends. Next time, a dash of nutmeg will be added to spinach mixture and the sauce will be doubled.

Chicken soups all start the same: boil a chicken with carrots, celery, and onions. After that is when the recipe diverts: seasonings, rice, noodle, cream, cabbage, sweet potatoes. Nothing new with changing a classic winner to include more nutrition.  Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew seemed like a winner on paper.  Modifications Made: Bacon was omitted.  Yes, omitted.  There was just something so wrong about chicken soup with bacon.  Something wrong about sweet potatoes with bacon.  Bacon DOES NOT go with everything, contrary to popular culture.  But the carrots and celery were fried in bacon grease before the half of chicken cut into quarters was added.  Wine was replaced with half water half mirin.   As soon as the chicken was falling off the bone, the chicken was removed, shredded in large chunks and added back to the stock to simmer on low.  Seasonings were adjusted to include more pepper. Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You Sweet potatoes in chicken soup does not jive.  There is not

A new stir fry, one without any sugar. It was too good to be true. It had to be tested, straight away. The only problem, none of the ingredients were to be had in the fridge. Sauce ingredients yes, filling ingredients not so much.  Black Pepper Chicken  had to wait for a solid week before it was made. And let me tell you (spoiler alert) it was worth the wait. So worth the wait. Modifications Made:  An orange bell pepper was added for additional color, the red onion was switched for a yellow bell pepper, regular soy sauce for low salt, half bunch of green onions were added into the sauce, and black pepper was reduced to one teaspoon instead of two. Scaled for Likability: Great A stir fry with no sugar added, who'da thunk it.  All the sugar needed to offset the salt from the soy came from the veggies themselves. The sauce was thick, peppery without excess heat, and coated all the veggies and chicken perfectly.  Sugar snap peas would have been a great exchange for the celery or added

In years to come, Covid19 will be thought of as the Year of Sourdough Bread.  My latest attempt,  Dutch Oven No Knead Bread  was the first attempt in a dozen where the bread actually formed big air bubbles throughout the whole loaf of bread.  Not just on top or on bottom. Modifications Made: None.  Making bread is an art I do not possess. Scaled for Likability: Great Still not perfect but it is the closet a homemade loaf of bread has been to perfect in over a dozen attempts.  Acquired skills over the last dozen have taught me two things.  One, ensure the dutch oven is fully to correct baking temp before adding raw dough.  Two, my oven is too small for bread making always resulting in way too crispy almost burnt bottoms.  Bread needs to be at the top of the oven far, far away from the heat source.  In a tiny RV gas oven, the dutch oven barely fits meaning the bottom of the bread is going to cook at a temperature hotter than desired resulting in too done bottoms that will need to be cut

So many tries, so many fails. I've tried this recipe and that recipe , failed at this recipe and failed at that recipe . The last was the closet of them all to my moms T&T white gravy, which I failed at too.  This morning I promised the teen table counterpart chicken biscuits with gravy. Biscuits were leftovers, chicken tenders cook in the microwave, gravy from a packet. Ugh, no packet and the tenders were already cooked, getting cold and hard on the counter. What to do, what to do? What else to do except attempt homemade cream gravy, again.  Ingredients:  Bacon grease Flour Milk Salt, Pepper  Water Instructions:  Melt one part bacon grease in pan (approximately 1 heaping tablespoon). Sprinkle in two parts flour (approximately two heaping tablespoons). Whisk until incorporated and continue whisking over medium heat until slight color appears to flour mixture. Slowly whisk in skin milk on low heat until runny consistency desired (approximately two cups) . Add salt and pepper t

The table counterparts' grammy apparently could not cook except for a half dozen recipes such as Cranberry Sauce and Swiss Steak . Having made cranberry sauce last turkey season, it was time to make Swiss steak. Modifications Made: Fresh minced garlic instead of powder and one full teaspoon of pepper.  Two green bell peppers were added to the carrot and onion mix. Scaled for Likability: This was closest recipe I could find matching memories from a meal not eaten in over 20 years.  Being memories are never really true to actuality, this Swiss steak was a good as the memory.  Meat was tender, juices were full of flavor and depth and did not taste just like tomatoes, carrots still had some chew but the green peppers were fork tender.  Served over a heaping spoonful of buttery mashed potatoes and a slice of white bread, this meal if a future T&T winner.

Tough brisket is a killer diller. Hours upon hours spent tending to it over the fire so it cooks nice and slow allowing the meat to do its thing.  An entire days worth of work and the first slice through requires a wood saw. Ugh. What to do, what to do.  A quart size bag of sliced brisket saved to the freezer for break glass; there is nothing in the whole pantry to eat; emergency and the rest was ground with the food processor.  Half the ground beef was served in a BBQ Empanada , the other half is being served as Chopped BBQ Sandwiches.  Nothing fancy here.  Just ground tough brisket tossed in a sauce pan with enough BBQ sauce to cover.  Meat is simmered on low for 30 minutes adding additional sauces and/or water to keep meat loose.  Serve over with pickles and a bun.  Dinner done. Scaled for Likability: Good These were not the oily, grease laden goo from the local BBQ stand.  These were not great chops either as the meat was still tough.  Meat was flavored through and through, sauce w

Chicken sausage has become the new thing.  The local grocer sells chicken sausage links in five or six different flavors.  Some are not designed for crumble meat as they contain cheese or spinach others are easily adaptable to having their cases removed and meat cooked.  With a reduced package of poblano chicken sausage scored at the is store this weekend,  Spicy Sautéed Veggies with Chicken Sausage  seemed like perfect way to enhance the sausage flavorings. Modifications Made: Yellow onion for sweet onion, poblano was plenty spicy so serrano was omitted, frozen corn replaced fresh, tomatoes were omitted, and fresh cilantro was added along with a teaspoon of minced garlic. Scaled for Likability: Great By itself, the stir fry seemed lacking.  When mixed directly with the Spanish rice, the tomato and comino flavors of the rice enhanced the sausage and veggies taking the meal to a whole new level.  Seasonings were mild with just enough sweet from the red pepper and the corn to offset the

T&T recipes don't always have to be meals served weekly, daily, or monthly. They can be special recipes served only a couple time of years. Recipes such as Rachel Ray's Anne Marie Rouladen . As a recipe from her famous 30 minute meals cooking show, one would believe the instructions stating Anne Marie's Rouladen would be ready 30 minutes.  If you made this recipe you would discover this to be false.  For truly tender, melt in your mouth rouladen, the recipe needs to be cooked for a few hours. Let me tell you, the hours it cooks makes the meal worth the effort. To offset time crunches during the week, this T&T Roulden Helper was created based upon the original recipe and can be cooked from start to finish in less than an hour. Ingredients: 4 strips bacon, diced 1 lb lean ground beef (not pork, chicken, or turkey) 1 small onion, finely diced 2 teaspoon garlic, minced 3 tablespoons flour 2-3 teaspoons yellow mustard or 1 powder 1/4 cup hamburger pickles, diced Water Sa

It was the garlics fault. Any recipe calling for one tablespoon of garlic had to be tried.  A tablespoon! Ground Pork Vandalia with Potatoes was not only loaded with heaping amounts of garlic but pepper, ginger, paprika, and potatoes, too. Modifications Made: One teaspoon of dry mustard replaced black mustard seeds, a jalapeno for the serano, and dried cilantro for coriander. In a large dutch oven, onions were sauteed with meat.  Potatoes, seasonings, and water were added and allowed to simmer until potatoes were fork tender adding water as necessary.  Scaled for Likability: Great With minor modifications made, I really don't understand why the original recipe was saucier and darker in color.  None of the ingredients listed would have produced the rich dark caramel coloring.  However, the final result was a different flavored picadillo and was happily eaten.  Oh, and the one tablespoon of garlic, hardly noticeable.  Guess this table eats a lot of garlic. Next time, the potatoes wi

Read the instructions! Three ingredients and I messed up the recipe, again.  Fear not Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were still good. Modifications Made: 118 grams of pumpkin for banana, 60 grams of oatmeal left whole, 20 grams of walnuts, and cookie rounds were rolled in white sugar for extra sweetness and crunch before cooking. Scaled for Likability: Good For completely messing up the instructions by not blitzing the oatmeal, the cookies were good.  They were moist and flavorful.  Whole oatmeal wasn't bad as it offered texture to the cookies.  Then teen and I ate the entire batch.  Don't worry, it wasn't very many to begin with.  For four ingredients, they were enjoyable and we would eat them again.  

I've gone and done it. I've cooked a recipe for a dish I've only eaten once and the results was fabulous. Well this table thought it was fabulous which really means  Udon Noodle Soup with Miso and Soft Boiled Eggs  was fabulous to begin with.   Modifications Made: Carrot was thinly sliced long ways instead of in circles, four ounces of bella mushrooms were added to pot and cooked before garlic and ginger were added.  Lime juice was omitted. A teaspoon of sriracha was added for some extra heat.  Peanuts were omitted. Scaled for Likability: Great When looking for recipes I try not go to the same blogs over and over.  There are thousands of blogs with a thousand different variations to the same recipe. Blue Apron is not really a food blog but more of a cook it yourself restaurant at home with easy to follow instructions.  Recipes come and go depending upon what they are selling.  For new beginners wishing to make something other than grilled cheese and instant soups, this site

Need a salad served cold, room temperature, or hot? Need a salad easily adjustable to your home flavors? Look no further than Chipotle Bean and Barley Salad . Modifications Made: Only one half of a small chipotle in adobo sauce was used. Two to the tablespoons would set the dish on fire, as in instant combustion when stirred!  Red pepper for green, frozen corn for fresh, and tomatoes and scallions were omitted. Scaled for Likability: Great Stereotyping is frowned upon. This should be applied to foods as well. Once a dish is categorized, it becomes judged. Good, bad, or otherwise the food is labeled without chances given. It's wrong. Good is not always good, bad is not always bad, and food is not always food.  I am not in the category vegan, vegetarian, or meat eater. I am in the category food consumer and this chipotle bean and barley salad is a perfect example of misclassification.  Why is it vegan? Because it plant based only?  This dish had been around generations longer then th

Real fried rice is yummy. Real fried rice takes planning in advance.  Real fried rice takes leftover rice. The older, the drier, the better the fried rice. Leftover rice is such a strange concept to this table. One cup of dry rice makes three cups cooked. If lucky, there is just enough rice leftover to make a small serving of sweet rice for dessert. Small as in less than a cup with the milk added.  Never enough leftovers for a meal or side dish. Definitely not enough for fried rice! Therefore to make Garlic Fried Rice , rice had to be made solely for the purpose of drying out in the fridge. An entire week worth of moving leftover rice around in the fridge. Hope the rice rodeo was worth the effort.  Modifications Made: Garlic was reduced to two tablespoons. Scaled for Likability: Good Originally, garlic fried veggies were going to be served alongside the garlic fried rice. The veggies (sugar snap peas, carrots, mushrooms) were fried before the rice and were set aside while rice was frie

  Fall has finally arrived to stay. Earlier than normal this year, temps have been in the mid 80s for the high for weeks now. Fantastic because fall is the perfect time for baking. Cookies, cakes, breads, pies, and Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken . Cook during the day when it's still cool, stick a lid on the pot and place back in the oven, and this dish stays warm until an early dinner. Perfect. Modifications Made: Cumin and hot paprika were omitted. Once chicken internal temperature reached 160℉, the oven was turned off, the dutch oven had it's lid placed on top, and the chicken was allowed to rest several hours until dinner was ready. Scaled for Likability: Great Yes, covering the chicken means the skin will lose it's crispy crust and become soft and pliable. However, since nobody eats the skin at this table anyways, covering the chicken results in moist, tender, well flavored meat.   Baking chickens is not a common occurrence at this table.  No reason other than it's

Last night's Octoberfest recipe was a flop for more than one reason, the biggest being the lack of ooey gooey, cheese topping. With a half of block of white cheddar cheese and no meals planned in the foreseeable future, a quick search was needed.  What to do with white cheddar cheese that is not a cream based sauce? Originally an egg dish was given thought, then a garlic cheese bread, then the table counterpart suggested replacing regular cheddar biscuits with white cheddar. Bingo. Peppery White Cheddar Biscuits for breakfast this morning. Modifications Made: Recipe was scaled to half.  One small ping pong sized egg was used in place of one "normal" egg. Scaled for Likability: Great Once a thousand years ago I was invited to Red Lobster where I watched in fascination as my entire table raved about the cheddar biscuits and their meals.  What I remember was oily cheese biscuits and oily garlic shrimp.  It was not a pleasant experience. Now more than 20 years later, after s

Well, it wasn't what I had in my head but the final results were edible. The brats were over cooked and not covered in a melty cheese. Oh, and it needed rye bread. Ingredients: Two large russet potatoes, thinly sliced Three grilled brats, sliced thin Sauerkraut, well drained White cheddar cheese, shredded Butter Salt & Pepper Instructions: Boil potatoes whole in salted water. When just short of fork tender (want some hardness) drain and let cool. When cool to touch without a towel, slice into 1\8" rounds. Set aside. Grill brats to correct internal temperature. In a large cat iron skillet, layer russet potato slices. Dab with butter slices. Sprinkle with pepper. Layer sliced brats. Layer drained sauerkraut. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is brown and bubbly. Scaled for Likability: Good Tender potatoes, dry brats, separate layers that fell apart.  The flavors were exactly what I was trying to achieve, the presentation needs refining. Next time, the potato

Definitely not moms pumpkin bread and it's not The Best Pumpkin Bread but it is good. Modifications Made: Chocolate chips were replaced with walnuts. Scaled for Likability: Good OJ in a pumpkin pie.  Never would this cross my mind.  When we eat pumpkin bread we drink milk.  Warm bread, cold milk.  Room temp bread, cold milk.  Cold bread, cold milk. There are other pumpkin breads without vegetable oil but they are less superior.  Applesauce as a replacement for oil is common and applesauce in pumpkin bread is good but the oil allows the bread to retain its moisture longer while not offering any additional sweetness.   If I am being honest, this is so close to moms pumpkin bread that if consumed on a side by side testing, I would fail.