Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole

In case you can't tell, I am saving some of my favorites to my blog today. This was inspired by my husband. He loves all things pork so I made this recipe to accomidate him. This is a frequent request in the fall and winter. This takes me for freaking ever to make because I am the slowest when it comes to thinly slicing potatoes. There is a reason I have never cut myself in the kitchen, I'm afraid of my knife! Anyways, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 lbs. of potatoes
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
boiling water
1 T salt
6 T butter or margarine
4 T flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp Paprika
4 1/2 c milk
2 c cheese
1 slice of center cut ham steak, cubed

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Lightly grease 3 qt (or bigger) casserole
3. Wash, pare and thinly slice potatoes.
4. Cook potatoes and onions covered in small amount of boiling water with 2 tsp salt about 5 minutes or until slightly tender.
5. Drain potatoes and onions
6. Melt remaining butter in sauce pan. Remove from heat. Stir in flour, paprika, pepper and remaining salt until smooth. Blend in milk and add 1 1/2 cups cheese.
7. Cook stirring over medium heat to boiling point or until thickened and smooth.
8. In prepared casserole dish, layer 1/3 of potatoes and onions, top with 1/3 ham and 1/3 of remaining cheese cover in 1/3 of cheese sauce mixture. Repeat. Add remaining potatoes and onions, top with remaining ham, cheese and cheese sauce mixture.
9. Bake uncovered 35 minutes or until top is browned, potatoes are tender when pierced with fork.

Hint: Cook this on the top shelf and put a cookie sheet on the bottom shelf beneath it because this tends to boil over!

Do not skip boiling the potatoes. I tried and I couldn't get the potatoes done even adding a ton more time. It was awful!