Cheesy Potatoes with Ham & Broccoli: Gets kids to the table fast!

After a big Easter dinner, I'm always looking for ways to use leftover ham. This recipe for Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes & Ham is perfect -- a real crowd-pleasing one-dish meal. I put it all together and got it into the oven, and then went to pick up my girls from school. When we returned, we simply added the extra broccoli and cheese, popped it back in the oven for the final 15 minutes and set the table. A delicious, easy dinner -- ready before anyone was starving!

The recipe calls for making the sauce first, but I decided to start by getting all the ingredients ready so the sauce would be nice and hot when I poured it onto the potatoes.

To chop your onion finely, I like to cut the onion in half, trim one end, and score lengthwise in thin strips. Keep it holding together at the non-trimmed end by not cutting just short of the end.

Then, cut crosswise against the first cuts, keeping your slicing narrow for a fine chop.

Slice a chunk of ham with a method similar to the onion slicing. First slice the ham into 1/2 inch slices -- cut all the way through but keep the slices together.

Now slice into long 1/2 inch strips, holding the ham together as best you can. Don't worry if the cut strips fall away.

Finally, lay the strips on their side and cut the ham into chunks, approximately 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch.

To slice the potatoes, set the whole potato on the cutting board and slice until it gets hard to hold -- about 2/3 of the way through the potato.

Now take the uncut end piece and place it flat-side-down. This makes it easy to slice the final part of the potato, and protects your fingers!

Finally, shred your Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses, and thaw the frozen broccoli by putting it in a measuring cup and covering with cold water. Just set the broccoli aside for draining and chopping later.

Get the potatoes and cheese layered in a buttered dish and then we're ready to make the sauce. To begin this, lay half the potatoes into the dish.

Sprinkle on the ham and half of each of the cheeses.

Pretty! Now cover with the remaining potatoes, and make the sauce. It's a breeze -- just mix together the cream, broth, onion, spices, and flour.

Stirring constantly, cook the sauce until the edges are bubbly and it thickens a bit. Then, pour the hot sauce over the prepared pan of potatoes, cheese and ham.

Make sure the sauce is covering all the potato slices and you're ready to cover (I used foil) and bake for 50-60 minutes.

This is when I went to pick up the girls from school. We were all back home in about 40 minutes, welcomed by the delicious aroma of baked potatoes and cheese. This brought smiles all around!

To get ready for the final baking step, drain the broccoli and chop it a few times so the pieces are more bite-sized.

Pull the potatoes out after 50-60 minutes and add the toppings: broccoli and the rest of the shredded cheese! With the addition of the broccoli, you get your green vegetable right in the potatoes -- a true one-dish meal and a great way to feed kids broccoli.

Now it's just a few more minutes in the oven -- uncovered this time -- and voila! -- a comforting and satisfying dinner.

My kids have already requested that I make these Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes & Ham again. It's perfect to make during the week if you're home in the afternoon, or on a lazy weekend day. As always, I'd love to hear from you if you make this recipe!

Stop back on Thursday to see Julie making the cutest bunny cookies ever.

Liz is paid to write for the Land O'Lakes Recipe Buzz™ Blog.