If gray potatoes are your thing - come on in...

In our growing up years, Andy and I had polar opposite versions of mashed potatoes. My family made them out of a box. Heat up some milk and butter, pour the flakes in - perfectly smooth great mashed potatoes.

Andy's family boiled potatoes and mashed them, or whipped them. They were also smooth great mashed potatoes.
When we first got married - he claimed he would be in charge of the mashed potatoes in our house. I think he made them once and realized the boxed kind were kind of amazing and way less work.
That's not to say we don't have real mashed potatoes sometimes. Last week I tried a new attempt at crock pot mashed potatoes. I'll back up. We had a date night in the city and enjoyed the garlic mashed potatoes at Weber Grill. We decided we NEED the recipe for those and want to make them. I found a crockpot recipe for garlic mashed potatoes. I decided to roast the garlic separately and add it at the end.
The potatoes seemed to cook OK in the crockpot, after mashed they had a very off-putting color - almost gray. I also added the roasted garlic - maybe it wasn't roasted enough? It wasn't very mushy.
The potatoes were "eh". Maybe you might like the recipe and you might find it useful. I think next time I'll peel the potatoes and do the old boil method. Also, use that stand mixer to beat the crap out of the potatoes and make them extra smooth. I'm cool with lumps and all... but the ricer does great work too.
Ok... enough about potatoes. Maybe I'll try them again some time... maybe.

Slow Cooker Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
4 lbs red potatoes , cleaned (peeled or unpeeled), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt , or to taste
1/2 tsp , pepper, or to taste
1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic (4 cloves)
1/4 cup butter , melted
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream , warmed in the microwave
1/2 cup milk , warmed in the microwave, or as desired
Minced chives and butter , for serving (optional)
Spray a 6 - 7 quart slow cooker with non-stick spray. Place potatoes in slow cooker then pour water evenly over top (if your slow cooker allows excess moisture to evaporate from the slow cooker I'd recommend adding in an extra 1/4 cup of water). Toss with salt and pepper then add garlic and pour butter evenly over potatoes and garlic. Cover and cook on high heat 4 - 4 1/2 hours until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork (don't drain!). Mash potatoes with a potato masher then add sour cream, heavy cream. Whip with an electric hand mixer until desired texture is reached, while adding in milk to reach desired consistency. Serve warm with more butter if desired and minced chives.