Scalloped Potatoes

This year was the first time I have ever made a dish to bring to a family dinner. In previous years I wasn't all that into cooking but now that I enjoy it so much I thought it fitting that I make something to share. My parents and I traveled to my aunt and uncle's house to have Easter dinner with my cousin, his wife and their two children, and my 94! year old grandfather. My mom made her deviled eggs, which as you know from previous posts are my favorite, and I opted to make the scalloped potatoes at the request of my aunt.

I looked up a few recipes before settling on one that I thought was pretty easy and not too time consuming.

You start by thin slicing 4 russet potatoes, skin on and cleaned, although you can peel them if you'd like. You also need to dice about one and a half cups of white onion and chop up about a third of a cup of chives.

After you've prepped your veggies and herbs, preheat the oven to 375. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, then layer the potatoes, sprinkling with chives as you go, until you reach the top of the dish. You can overlap the potatoes but make sure there are enough gaps so when you pour on your sauce it coats everything through to the bottom of the dish.

Once you're finished layering your potatoes set the dish aside. Melt a 1/4 cup of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add in the onions. Saute until tender, then whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour to coat the onions. Next, pour in 2 cups of whole milk and stir in 2 cloves of minced garlic. Mix well to combine.

Let the mixture sit until it bubbles and starts to thicken, then remove from the heat. Whisk in 2 cups of a combo of cheddar, monterey jack, and mozzarella cheese. Once all the cheese has melted pour it over your potatoes. Give the dish a good shake to make sure all of the sauce settles to the bottom of the dish, then top with about 1/4 cup of the remaining cheese and another sprinkle of chives.

At this point you bake it for about an hour. Make sure you watch it!! I checked on mine several times but my mother neglected to tell me that their oven cooks hotter so I burned the top of mine a little :( Fortunately it was still edible, just not very pretty! Here they are below after having been cut into:

I liked this recipe but I think next time I may try a different one. The potatoes didn't get as coated with the cheese mixture as I would have liked them to but even with the burned top everyone still enjoyed them!