St. Patrick's Day Irish Potato Pie

This recipe [sans the garlic and parsley] is from Elswet's grandmother's recipes and is quite old, as she got it from her grandmother. This is really good most anytime, but it's especially good when it's cold outside. This goes great with a potato/cheddar soup, for lunch, or with a green salad and jello with pear halves for dinner. This type of food is typically a bit bland. So we spice it up the tiniest bit to suit our more eclectic palates.

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 1 pie

Ingredients

• 6 -8  potatoes, peeled
• 6  bacon, strips
• 4  green onions, sliced paper thin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1  cup  grated cheddar cheese
• 8  drops  green food coloring

Directions

1. preheat oven to 400°F
2. cook the potatoes in boiling water with the green food coloring added to the water, until tender and drain.
3. in a skillet, fry bacon until crisp and lay out on paper towels to drain.
4. trim onions so that you have the white part and about half of the green, wash well, and slice paper-thin.
5. add onions to skillet and sauté in bacon grease over medium heat until soft.
6. slice the boiled potatoes, and arrange half in the bottom of a pie plate.
7. season with salt and pepper, 1/2 the garlic and 1/2 the parsley.
8. layer with bacon, onion and one half of the cheese. cover with remaining potatoes and season again.
9. cover with remaining cheese.
10. bake for 30 minutes or until top is browned and cheese is melted.
11. you can also layer in 1/2 pound of browned ground meat on top of each potato layer, if cooking for someone who won't eat a meatless meal.