Pepper's Scalloped Potatoes

I'd like to just come out with it and say that I made this out of Cravings back in October. October 8, to be exact. I meant to blog about it, but remember being exceptionally grumpy that day and apparently stayed grumpy because here I am, almost 4 months later...just now getting to it. That being said, I will try my best to remember how this went.

What I do know for sure is that I made this with the intention of going to a barbecue. This is relevant because of the sheer amount this recipe makes. She tells you it feeds 16 to 20 people. So, in my potato loving family, you can cut that in half and it's still a ton of potatoes. This recipe also takes a really long time, so you need to account for that when you make it. Lots of prep work and, because it calls for 5 freaking pounds of potatoes, a reasonable amount of cook time.

I swear I didn't do this on purpose, but this recipe calls for bacon and ham. This will make 3 consecutive ham posts and I really do apologize to my non-ham eating readers - because for some reason ya'll exist. This will be probably the only time I did not add more ham than stated. The reason being, I was very afraid that my dutch oven would not be big enough - and it almost wasn't.

AND she has you cover it at some point while you bake it.

It's this very recipe that prompted me to put a bigger dutch oven on my Christmas list which, thanks to my awesome mother in law, I got. :) 

Once this was assembled (and I use that word because it is very fitting here) I received word that the barbecue was no longer happening. Cue grumpy Ashley. Here I am with over 5 pounds of scalloped potatoes and no where to take them. I debated eating it all myself, but my ass jumped in and protested. I suppose there is only so much butter, bacon, and potato one's arteries can take. Lucky for me, I have a fantastic sister who said she would call a few people and bring over some meat and we could throw a small barbecue at my house instead. Cue less grumpy Ashley.

This turned out beautifully. 

Oh. My.

*insert clogged arteries here*

I really don't think I need to dwell on how freaking delicious this was. Unfortunately, however delightfully tasty this was, I still had about half when my company left - despite my pleas for people to take some with them. I did, however, freeze what we couldn't eat in a normal time span and so now you know that this is freezer friendly. It has since been thawed and eaten and it tasted like the very first time. Heaven.