'Don't tell me that is mashed potatoes': 20 Amateur chefs who cooked with creativity

Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor

Jun 20, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

Recipes are great for some, but some chefs prefer to freestyle their meals. I'm fully on team recipe, mainly because when I try to cook without one, my dish turns out just awful.

I trust the random cooks of the internet when I make my meals — mostly because I actually had a physical cookbook, and everything I made with it turned out wrong. This cookbook had me making soggy and inedible french toast, and another time, it steered me into making the most watery pancakes I've ever witnessed. They were more like crepes. It was like a sick and twisted joke was being played on me as I stared down at my pathetic pancakes.

So these days, I trust bloggers with recipe titles like "Brenda's Best-Ever Legendary Melty Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies." The more intense the descriptive adjectives, the better. I don't just want any cookie recipe, I want the one from a random blogger who's telling me this amazing cookie will change my life, align my chakras, and rotate my car's tires. I want exuberance from my foods! Brenda gets it!

The people below are turning their foods into entirely new recipes, or at least they're putting their own spin on things. Some of these food disasters look kind of good, like the deep-fried Gushers that could clog your arteries and cleanse your soul. But as for the "mozzarella stuffed pickle wrapped in seasoned beef and bacon" dish, I hope to forget such a foul concoction ever existed.

Up next, this thief got the surprise of a lifetime when he returned to the scene of his theft.

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01
The poster said this is a real ad in Singapore...

via u/ChickenBux

Are you trying this? Because I am!
02
Fancy a deep-fried gusher?

via u/sicilianZionist
03
Cook has an egg sandwich but no bread! What to do?

via u/WhitneyCole2
04

via u/Glad-Bread6203
05
Oh, that's... unfortunate

via u/kiffens
06
If I was handed this dish, I would get up, leave, and drive away into the sunset, never to return again

via u/chenahwd98aqd
07

via u/Glad-Bread6203
08
Have you ever wondered, "What would happen if I made a pancake in a rice cooker?"

via TheOnlyPepromene
09
Wonder no more, because this person did it, and it looks rather soggy

via TheOnlyPepromene
10
This seems like someone's really specific pregnancy craving

via u/abaganoush
11
"My manager gives me extra pepperoni when I order a pizza," this OP writes

via u/Rhewin
12
The birdseed looking thing is probably the only edible part of this arrangement, right?

via u/elgino1626

Google says you can eat pine boughs…but they seem so pointy.
13
A commenter guessed that these were meatballs with enoki mushrooms embedded in them

via u/AffectionateBook9344
14
"Mozzarella stuffed pickle wrapped in seasoned beef and bacon," explains the OP.

via u/Jammin_neB13
15
Someone doesn't care about their job anymore

via wildsoapbox
16
Egg and cilantro omelette, heavy on the cilantro

via u/cubansbottomdollar
17
Mac and cheese frozen in gelatin, with what appears to be ketchup for "icing"

via u/hotfootStep
18
Nail artist makes coffee nails that you could soak to make a cup of joe

via u/Lava_girllll

Points for creativity! Enjoy that hint of nail polish flavor in your coffee (and no one else attempt to do this, please).
19
Uncooked ramen + bread + ketchup

via u/ProfessionalCold2779
20

via wildsoapbox