Would she be open to use the pre-made mixes as a base and then you improving on them? I love to cook from scratch with nothing but fresh vegetables and base ingredients; it really makes me happy and, if I do say so myself, I do a good job at it (it is indeed a time consuming experience). My mom cooked from scratch and the taste and process of pankakes starting from scratch is familiar and comforting.

I have also learned that there is a lot that I can do by using pre-made ingredients, and that sometimes it's a huge advantage because I can then focus my cooking creativity on the parts that are less about 'turning the ladle' and more about personal time and experience. Some examples:

1. Pasta sauce: Buy a decent tomato basil sauce. Then add caramelized onions (40 min), mushrooms, artichokes and spices. Now I can focus on what the sauce goes on top of.

2. Pankakes: Some of the store bought pankake mix is pretty great, I especially love the Ube mix from Trader Joe's. If you are not making your own mix, then you can really focus on creating some excellent and amazing hme make toppings. It's a good excuse to perfect a recepie for marmalade or make a perfect mini fried chicken from scratch to go with that pankake.

3. Mac'n'Cheese: It's absolutely possible to make Mac'n'Cheese from scratch, but also delicious to start with a box, and then figure out how to max it Gormet in all different ways.

just some ideas.

This is so fantastic! (Both in the literal and colloquial sense.)

Pointy Shootie

This is great advice. I did not know that '--keep' was an option, and have offen done rather lengthy work arounds to achieve this.

These are absolutely stunning. The James Web just brings so much magic of the universe to light.