Enhancing Mashed Potatoes

Somehow I can never think far enough in advance to make side dishes to go with my entree, so I use a lot of "quick" side dishes that can be made in the fifteen minutes between when I think "Oh crap, I don't have any side dishes" and when dinner is served. One of my old standbys is mashed potatoes from flakes. I like mashed potatoes. However, FH is really picky and he's decided that mashed potatoes from flakes do not meet with his approval unless they are larded with dairy products, which a third of the family can't have. He especially hates them when they're made with rice milk (the very same rice milk that he insisted we had to buy because he refused anything made with soy milk).

So today I "enhanced" the mashed potatoes. I used soy milk to make it creamier, and then I added about a half tablespoon of miso (to an 8-serving batch) and a sprinkle of garlic powder. I thought they tasted nice. They had a bit of that "cheesy" or "sour creamy" taste to them which was really nice. The family liked it too, and even FH approved.