Scalloped Potatoes Recipe…

I have posted a lot of cookie recipes, but I also am the “head chef” in my family so I wanted to share with you one of my favorite meals that is a one pot meal, easy on the budget, easy to make and can feed a crowd! Scalloped potatoes I have noticed gets a bad reputation as being watery and bland….so let’s fix that!!!! First of all notice my ingredients, 6 potatoes sliced reasonably thin….see how I used red skinned potatoes? Yep….no need to peel those potatoes! Save yourself time and energy and buy the red skinned potatoes because you just need to wash them, the skin is so thin you won’t notice it! Don’t have access to them? Go ahead and use what ever potato you like! Wash and peel if needed! The second ingredient is the flour, I have pictured here a gluten free flour, if your budget doesn’t allow for gluten free flour then use cornstarch! If your not gluten free then use what ever flour you like! The portions of flour/cornstarch will be the same! Next is milk, I have whole milk in the fridge today, use what milk you have, if it’s skim milk you will have a harder time thickening your sauce so be prepared to use more flour. You will also need an oil of some sort, I have some coconut oil in the pantry but I’ve also used grape seed oil, and regular veggie oil…use what you have! Last we have salt, pepper, ham and onion. Don’t like ham? Leave it out! Don’t like onion? Leave it out! I have found that for those who don’t like onion that if you use dried onion flakes you can get the depth of flavor to your dish without the onion texture. I’m not an onion fan but I have found that chop these sweet onions up and cook them down till they are soft that they melt right into a dish like this. As for salt and pepper, use the salt and pepper you have available, I have some pink sea salt and I’m almost out of pepper….oh well….I’ll make it work!😆

4 cups milk, 6 sliced potatoes, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 table spoons flour, 1 onion, about 2 cups of ham or whatever ham you happen to have, salt and pepper to taste.

Let’s make life easy, turn your oven on to 350° and while it is warming up prep all your ingredients. This will save time and make life easier especially if you get interupted while cooking, you will easily be able to see where you left off. So now you have everything washed, chopped, and sitting right there let grab a large pot and get going!

Step 1. In a large pot put 2 tablespoons of oil and let it warm up. I’m not one to measure so you don’t have to be exact. Also note the oven clock, it’s 9:51 am…in the next pictures you can see the time and really see how long this takes, it comes together pretty quick!

Step 2. Add chopped onion and stir for roughly 10 minutes adding some salt and pepper. These onions are all set, see how they look glossy and shiney? They are soft and starting to get a golden color…that’s when your ready for step 3.

Step 3. Add about 2 tablespoons of flour. Seriously this isn’t exact…I have a regular spoon…basically you want equal parts flour and oil. So I did about 2 scoops of oil so I’m adding 2 scoops of flour!

Step 4. Stir it in…it will end up looking like this gross paste. That’s what you want!

Step 5. Now it’s time to add the milk, add just a little bit at a time, the trick to a thick sauce is taking your time! So add like half a cup and stir it in allowing the flour to absorb and thicken before adding more (look at the time it’s only been about 16 minutes!)

This is just showing what it looks like as it thickens after about a cup of milk is added. You will repeat adding milk and stirring until all 4 cups of milk are added and the sauce is reasonably thick(it will thicken more in the oven as well as the following day)

Step 6. Add the ham! I happen to have a lot of leftover ham, but if you don’t like a lot then add less or none at all. Allow the sauce to warm the ham and stir for a minute or two. Then most important step is to TASTE the sauce! The sauce should not taste like warm milk! If it does add more salt and pepper! It should taste creamy and have a good comforting flavor. This is unique to each of us so add more pepper and salt, stir and taste again. It took me three tastes before I got it how I like it.

Step 7. Add the potatoes! No need to go crazy, just add them in and try to get everyone covered with sauce…mine are poking up…oh well! If you have extra potatoes don’t toss them out! Chop up any extra potatoes and use them for hashbrowns tomorrow morning for breakfast!

Step 8. Put a lid or foil on the pot and put the pot in the oven! (Yes my oven is dirty, that’s life😂). Notice I have a cookie sheet under my pot, scalloped potatoes has a tendency to over flow, doing this will save you the mess of burned sauce all over the bottom of your oven. Even better is to line your cookie sheet with parchment or foil, then if it overflows you can just toss the mess after cooking time is over!

How long it takes to cook varies on how thick your potatoes are cut. Put it in the oven for one hour. Pull it out and use a fork to check the potatoes. Does the fork easily slide in and out without needing help? If yes then allow one potato slice to cool enough to taste it. Does it bite easily and seem nice and soft without being mushy? Then it’s done!

It’s 11:27am, scalloped potatoes and ham is finished and will sit here until cooled and I will put it in the fridge! When it’s dinner time you can either put the pan back in the oven till it’s heated through or you can just warm up each portion in the microwave!

So in approximately an hour and a half I have dinner made, prep time was about 10 minutes and then about 15 minutes working at the stove. About an hour in the oven which will allows you time to do chores, go out for a jog or just enjoy a cup of coffee. For those of us stay at home moms I reccomennd getting the main dish prepped when the house is quiet…do this during nap time or while kids are at school. This makes dinner time less hectic. If the budget allows you can serve this with dinner rolls and your favorite veggie. I like asperagus, my husband prefers zucchini. Saute your choice of veggie in a pan with a touch of butter or oil and any seasoning you like. Should just take a few minutes so do this right before you serve dinner. For you working mom’s, try making this on your day off and keeping it in the fridge, before you leave for work in the morning pour this into your crock pot and set it on low or warm…you will come home to a hot dinner waiting for you! Have store bought dinner rolls waiting on the counter and dinner is served!

Feel free to change up this recipe…add cheese, maybe use bacon bits in place of ham, even use cauliflower in place of potatoes! This recipe is just the basic so add new things and see what you like!

This recipe is a breeze to double or even triple! Just be sure you have a pan large enough to bake it in!

And just so you know, I’m eating this right now and it tastes EXACTLY like when I make it using all purpose flour!

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