recipe: scalloped potatoes

yesterday we cooked prime rib for din dins. i wanted to make au gratin potatoes to go with it but didn't have much cheese, so i tried out the home-style scalloped potato recipe from allrecipes.com. looking at the ingredients it seemed like it would be hum-drum, but the reviews were pretty amazing and they were actually right. i followed the recipe almost to a tee, adding in some extra garlic and toppings.

ingredients list:
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 3/4 tsp season salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 & 1/4 cups milk
- 3 potatoes, thinly sliced
- french fried onions
- shredded colby jack cheese
- parsley

to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. in a small bowl, stir together flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. in a large sauce pan, saute onion in butter until tender. stir in flour until completely absorbed. gradually add milk, then bring to a boil. stir and cook for 2-3 minutes until sauce has thickened. 

place half of the potatoes in a greased baking dish. pour half of the sauce over the potatoes. repeat layers. baked uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour. add a sprinkling of french fried onions, colby jack, and parsley over the potatoes during last 10 minutes. the top should be lightly browned.