Recipe of the Week: Scalloped Potatoes

I thawed some ground beef for burgs on the grill tonight but what to have for a side? My inner dialogue went something like this: "Hmmm...(fridge opening and shutting about 3 times)...sick of frozen veggies...(opening pantry about 6 times)...what to have, what to have? Do I have any potatoes to roast? Shoot, they're all sprouting and wrinkly. I could peel them for mashed potatoes. Nah, not with hamburgers. Oh yeah! Scalloped potatoes! And I even have some leftover bacon!"

This is one of those "recipes" handed down in our family that's really never been written out, but we all just know how to make it. Do you have any of those? You kinda take them for granted and think to yourself that everyone knows how to make XYZ...but then again...maybe not. So that's why I'm sharing it with you. Please forgive the in-exact measurements and instructions. That's just how I roll for ol' hand-me-downs. Measuring everything out in exact quantities sorta defeats the purpose of a recipe like this. And anyway, it's hard to mess up.

Scalloped Potatoes

Butter a medium-sized shallow Corningware dish or small casserole.
Peel and thinly slice about 4 potatoes.
Thinly slice one small onion.
Slice 2-3 strips of thawed bacon into about 1/2 inch pieces.
Layer potatoes, onions, bacon, salt and pepper to taste, a couple of dots of butter and a little flour. Repeat. Repeat again until all of your ingredients are gone. The layers should be pretty thin.
Pour milk over top until you can just see it start to rise on the sides of the casserole.
Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Poke it around with a fork now and then. It's done when the potatoes are fork-tender and the milk is all incorporated.

Another beautiful thing about old-fashioned cooking is that they're made with such simple, uncomplicated ingredients. Who doesn't have potatoes, bacon and onions? Enjoy!