There’s your problem. Don’t use a mixer. Peel or not (using very thin-skinned taters like Yukon Gold is a good compromise), cut into chunks, boil 10 minutes while you’re doing something else. Pour out the water and mash in the pan with a potato masher/bean masher. Throw in some butter, salt, milk, and voila. 10 minutes, tops, of actual interaction, if you’re moderately slow.
I just noticed…you drink buttermilk?
The only person I have known to drink buttermilk was my paternal grandfather, he crumbled up cornbread into the glass.
Have you been drinking? :dubious:
Ar? 
Which “standard” recipe is this?
The one I was taught uses a mirepoix as well as bouquet garni
I’ve never come across a recipe that calls for agar, that’s completely weird to me.
No, it’s not. Shoot me if I ever serve you a cassoulet with just one meat in it (or even just two).
If you can believe it, crushed garlic. So, yeah, I guess I am saying that chopping garlic is not worth the culinary effort ;). That sounds bad.
I am the meal maker of my family. The feeder. I can make a variety of things as long as they only require a few ingredients, 1 big pan and 1 pot and 30 minutes. Chicken and rice can be separate, an Asian fried rice, a risotto - whatever works.
I used crushed garlic because I am lazy and it works easily in marinades and sauces, added to pans when sautéing, etc. I’ve gotten home, I’m cranking out food, the crushed garlic is easy. The kids enjoy my cooking, but that may be some form of culinary Stockholm Syndrome 
Don’t forget, if it calls for agar-agar you gotta double it up. 
**Buttermilk **- Love it. Drink it by the glass. Started a thread about it once. Send your leftover BM my way.
Also, stores 'round these parts sell very small (pint?) containers of buttermilk.
**Spanakopita **- This is the opposite from the OP for me. It was a colossal PITA to make, but dayum, it was so good that folks were weeping.
mmm
Or, just mash them with a fork. A little more work (not much) and a little less to clean (not much). I never peel, and never add milk. I substitute more butter for the milk. A hundred times better than any instant alternative.
So, to sum up what to clean: one pot, one fork.
I LOVE homemade pasta. Not even close to the dried stuff. But my Wife really doesn’t so I don’t make it often. I find it easier to just use a rolling pin than my fancy pasta machine. That thing makes a mess.
As to pasta sauce. I made it once from fresh tomatoes. Meh. Might be that you have to grow your own tomatoes nowadays to get a decent one. So I guess I really didn’t start from ‘scratch’.
I add a garlic clove per potato.
It surprises me that pie crust is mentioned several times. Homemade is certainly worth the small effort required. There are only a few ingredients and once you get the knack of adding just the right amount of water and rolling it, the results are much superior to store-bought. To me, the crust is the whole reason to make a pie. The filling is just there to hold everything together. In fact, I always bake the left-over crust and eat it plain. (Caution: lard is required for flaky pie crusts. Crisco, butter, and other materials are a poor substitute. I’ve tried them all.)
I agree about biscuits. Once high-quality frozen biscuits became available, I stopped making my own.
You do. I used canned tomatoes for sauces 95% of the time. The fresh tomatoes you get at most supermarkets are generally flavorless and worthless in my experience. This is not snobbery, it’s just fact. I used to try to make pasta sauces out of supermarket tomatoes and was just frustrated that they always came out bland and pale looking. It took me several times to realize the obvious: the tomatoes just suck. Once I switched to canned, it was fine. My basic pasta sauce is tomatoes, garlic or onion, salt, and olive oil. (Possibly also some pepper flakes, and maybe finished with basil or even parsley.) The tomatoes should be good enough that that tomato sauce works, without having to dump half your spice shelf into it. (And this is partly why I just don’t like almost all brands of jarred spaghetti sauce: over-spiced, mess of flavors, too sweet.)
The exception is garden fresh tomatoes or during tomato season in places that actually stock the shelves with farm fresh tomatoes. (When I lived in Hungary, the tomatoes you’d find at the markets in July and August were plentiful, cheap, and delicious. Perfect for saucing and anything else you want to do with it.)
Pie crust and corn bread are both foods that I used to prefer pre-made or mix to home-made. Then I got better at making them. Now I can’t enjoy store-bought pie crust, because home made is so much better. I still like jiffy corn bread, but never make it any more because it’s so easy from scratch, and better. (I add less sugar than in jiffy, and use a coarser-ground corn meal. I also use delicious butter or goose fat, not hydrogenated whatever.)
When I make pumpkin pie “from scratch” my pumpkin comes from a can. My mom used to sometimes make it from Jack-o-lantern pumpkins (which my father grew) and that’s not as good as the canned stuff. Perhaps culinary pumpkins would be better, but I don’t like pumpkin pie enough to find out.
I’ve made cranberry sauce, puff pastry, and various fried foods from scratch. None was worth the effort. If I want fried food, I eat out. (The frozen fried potatoes always taste a little freezer-burnt to me. Maybe a problem with my super market?) Frozen puff pastry is excellent and easy. Ocean Spray brand cranberry sauce is noticeably better than store brand, and really really similar to the stuff I made, which cost more and created a sticky mess.
My lasagne was better than store bought, but what a monumental pita. I’ll probably never make it again.
The primary spice is cumin, not chili. Add some turmeric, too.
Yes, unless I have a pile of home grown tomatoes, I always start with canned tomatoes. There are several excellent brands.
Me, too - I made a pie from a Sugar Baby pumpkin. Everyone says there’s no difference between a real pumpkin and canned pumpkin, but my pie came out just divine! I made my own crust and real whipped cream. It was memorable.
Yeah, I reread it, I completely missed that the first time! 
Once in awhile I will buy mashed potatoes, but nothing compares to my homemade and I don’t think they are too much of a hassle to make. I like them very creamy so I may be in the minority.
I have absolutely no Southern blood or connections, but I love Southern (and Cajun) food. I just taught myself how to make it properly through copious research and trial & error.
I’m with MMM on the subject of buttermilk. I relish it. The sprinkle of salt is important. Don’t forget that sprinkle of salt. I don’t do the crumbled-cornbread thing, but I can respect it. The Ukulele Lady stirs granola into yogurt at breakfast time, yielding a similar result.
Scratch-made spanakopita is worth it for the oohs and aahs the guests make, but too work-intensive for regular rotation. Also, it’s a team effort…you gingerly lift up the phyllo sheets and lay them in place, the spouse paints them with the melted butter. Work alone and you risk disaster.
Try this recipe: Cassoulet in 10 Easy Steps.
Baklava is what I came in here to post. I tried to make it once, and while it turned out OK it was definitely not worth the effort and expense. Plus, it was way too much, and I wound up taking it into work and giving it away because there was no way I could eat all that. I’ll just order it for dessert at the local Greek restaurant if I get a craving.