Mrs. Milepig was gone last evening and I made a batch of something she won't let in the house.

It is from my childhood and I believe the original name was "Top of the stove scalloped potatoes" and I suspect the origin was either a depression or war-time recipe. It is beloved my myself and all my siblings but no one else will go near the stuff. It doesn't help that my farmer BIL renamed it "pig slop."

In essence, the original recipe called for boiling potatoes and carrot slices in milk with salt and pepper and then adding cheese (the faker the better) and crumbled crackers to bind it all together.

This recipe had multiple problems and the milk always boiled over, the potatoes were done before the carrots and turned to mush, and the dish came off the stove looking like, well, pig slop. But, the ultimate comfort food.

In my rendition I first saute carrots onions and celery (depending on what's in the house) until partially cooked and then add the potatoes and milk and a nub of butter unless we happen to have whole milk in the fridge. I use a giant pot avoiding the boiling over problem. When the potatoes are done I then add actual cheese from the cheddar family (anything more flavorful would ruin the taste) and a few crackers.

The stuff is like crack to me, but Mrs. Milepig coined the phrase "lips that touch pig slop shall never touch mine." I carefully cleaned everything up and took out the trash so with luck she won't realized that I'd strayed from the path.