Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Tonight we had a very simple meal. Italian seasoned chicken breasts, asparagus, and scalloped potatoes. I've always loved my moms scalloped potato recipe but could not get a hold of her in time so I found one of my own! It ended up being delicious, but nothing is ever compares to moms.

The nice thing about these scalloped potatoes is that they don't require that many ingredients and most of the ingredients are the ones most people have laying around their house.

Now, thanks to all that cheese, milk, and butter this side dish is very high in saturated fat. But, each serving size only has about 293 calories. That's a lot if you were having a very heavy meal but since we just paired this rich dish with asparagus and almost plain chicken breasts, we felt a lot better about ourselves!

I definitely recommend this recipe whether you are watching what you're eating or not. It's one of those dishes that makes you feel nice, cozy, and warm inside.
I would also recommend more cheese if you're a cheese lover... like me :)

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Serves 5-6
30 minutes prep time
40 minutes cook time 

Ingredients:
5 Yukon gold potatoes
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 c milk (I used skim)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c shredded cheddar
1/4 c shredded cheddar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.

Peel and slice potatoes about 1/4 inch thick. Boil until almost cooked and drain. Set aside to use the pot for the rest of the recipe.

In the same pot,  melt the butter and add the onion to saute. Now, add the flour in 3 to 4 intervals to avoid burning and to also create a thick mixture. I reduced the heat in about half to avoid scorching.

Now, add the milk in several intervals as well, stirring constantly to thicken the mix. Add salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and remove from heat. Stir until the cheese is melted.

Pour 1/3 of the sauce in the bottom of your casserole dish then top with half of the potatoes. Then, pour another third of the sauce onto the potatoes. Add the rest of the potatoes. Then add the remaining amount of sauce in the casserole dish.

Top with the rest of the cheddar cheese and bake for about 40 minutes.

PW's Perfect Pot Roast

Alright guys, here's your first look into my life in the kitchen! I wanted to get some use out of my new tools so I began by testing out the dutch oven (thanks mom!!!) What better to cook in a dutch oven then a hearty pot roast?

This recipe is ridiculously easy and tasty but does take quite a bit of time so make sure you allow about 30 minutes for prep time and 3-5 hours for cooking time. Of course, you could always use a crock pot and slow cook your roast as well.

I began by warming up 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a dutch oven. While waiting for my oil to get hot I cut up two onions, cut them in half (also chopping off the root and stem). Once my oil was super hot, I added the onions and let them brown for about one minute on each side.

Scoop out your onions and set them aside.

Then, slice about 5 to 6 carrots, do not peel them, in about 2 inch pieces. After your carrots are cut, place them in the hot oil to brown. This only takes a couple minutes, you definitely don't want to cook your carrots.

Once your carrots are in perfect shape, place them on a separate plate as well.

Now, PW didn't call for potatoes in her recipe but Grant made the suggestion of putting them in. I also love potatoes with pot roast so adding them to the dutch oven is more simple than mashing potatoes. My next step in this recipe was to rinse some yellow potatoes, I chose to use about 4 of the smaller ones. I didn't cut them up for anything, just simply stuck them in.

The next few steps are the most crucial for a delicious pot roast!

Add another tablespoon of olive oil into the dutch oven and let it heat up. While waiting for it get super hot, generously salt both sides of your pot roast. I also generously peppered because we like that type of flavor around here!

Once your roast is seasoned to perfection, place it in the hot oil and sear each side for about a minute. When each side is seared, place the roast on a plate as well.

Now, you'll notice that thanks to all of that browning of your meat and vegetables, your pan probably has lots of remnants on the bottom. You want the flavor of all those particles so slowly add about 1 cup of beef broth while whisking simultaneously. The point of this is to get all the browning off the bottom of the dutch oven and incorporate it in the flavor of your dish.

When there is nothing stuck on the bottom of you pan anymore, add the roast and vegetables back into the pot. Also, add the rest of your broth, I only used 1 can of Swanson's Beef Broth. The recipe suggests to add enough broth to cover half of the roast and the one can seemed to do it for me!

Now, add some rosemary and thyme to the dish, cover, and cook!

Since I had about a 3lb roast, I cooked mine for 3-31/2 hours on 275.


I apologize for not showing the final product, however, Grant and I were way too hungry and I'm way too new at this. Patience is a virtue people!




PW's Perfect Pot Roast
Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions
5 to 6 carrots
4 yellow potatoes
1 3-5lb chuck roast
Kosher salt
Pepper
1 can Swanson Beef Broth
3 to 4 rosemary springs
2 to 3 thyme springs (I didn't have sprigs for either of the herbs, a tsp or two of each worked out great though!!)\

Directions:
Preheat oven to 275.
Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and let it get hot.
While the oil is heating, salt your roast on both sides. Also while the oil is heating, cut two onions in half from root to tip, cutting off the root and tip afterwards. Slice the carrots into two inch pieces.
Add onions to dutch oven and let brown on each side for a minute. Remove from the pot to plate.
Then, add the carrots to the dutch oven and let brown for a minute or two. Remove from pot to plate.
Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and let it get hot. While waiting, pepper the roast. When oil is hot, place roast in the dutch oven and sear for one minute on each side.
Remove roast and place on plate.
Deglaze the pot by adding once cup of broth to the pan and use a whisk to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.
When most of the particles are removed, add the roast, carrots, onions and potatoes back to the pot.
Add the rest of the broth, rosemary, and thyme.
Cover and cook for 3-5 hours.

Courtesy of Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman