Better than Betty's (Crocker) Scalloped Potatoes

Yumm  yumm, scalloped potatoes.  I love me some cheesy, carby goodness whenever and wherever I can get it, but as you all know by now, I try to avoid it.  There are some things that are just better, almost always, when they're homemade than from a box, and scalloped potatoes are one of those things. Sure, Betty Crocker makes a mean scalloped potato, but I don't like the gritty "fake" cheese taste of it.  Steve loves him some scalloped potatoes - so I had to buckle down and make them. Cheesy cream sauces are my forte, I mastered them (I think) when I started with mac and cheese, perfected them further with cream soups and now, pro status.  I wish I had more of a story for this than I do, but unfortunately, I've fallen so far behind on my blogging that any great story is far forgotten, sorry dudes, your loss this time.  

The best part about these? The creaminess of the cheese sauce, the bite of the dijon mustard, the crisp, crunch of the potatoes browned around the edge..the panko. You can use this basic cream sauce recipe for just about any vegetables you want, in fact, I will be adding a winter harvest vegetable recipe soon with a very similar cream sauce recipe.  I somehow missed the amount of cheese that I added, so I'm going to take a guess and just note that you will probably start with less and then add more if it seems to need more cheese (I can always use more cheese). 

Scalloped Potatoes

5 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 TBSP Flour

1 TBSP Butter

1 1/2 C Milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 1/2 Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 TBSP Sour Cream

1/2 tsp Chives

1/4 C Panko Breading

1 TBSP Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Microwave potatoes for 5 minutes until slightly softened. Rinse all starch off, drain and set aside.  Prepare a 2 quart baking dish with PAM spray or equivalent.

 In saucepan, melt butter on medium low heat, whisk in flour until thickened.  Add milk and continue to whisk until thick sauce forms.  Add salt, garlic, dijon mustard and chives. Once sauce has thickened, lower heat and add in cheese. 

 Continue to stir until thick sauce has formed, add in sour cream. Arrange half of the potatoes in the prepared dish, pour half of the sauce over, then layer with remaining potatoes and remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with panko and parmesan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese sauce starts to bubble.