Hawaiian Haystacks

I had never even heard about Hawaiian Haystacks until I came to Utah for college. I didn't think about them for years, then I made them about a year ago, and the kids loved them, and just last week, I saw this post and had to laugh, because I was already planning to post about them myself. The fun thing about Hawaiian Haystacks is that you can make them to fit your family and your tastes. I do use cream of mushroom soup as the gravy for the chicken, but I think I might try this recipe next time I make them.

I prefer to use my crock pot chicken for the chicken in this recipe, because I prefer the chicken to be shredded, I like it better that way. But my crock pot met a tragic end last week, so I currently have no crock pot. This is a very simple, no planning required dinner. I usually save it for a night when I didn't plan ahead.

Hawaiian Haystacks

1 pound cooked chickcen, diced or shredded

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Toppings of your choice, we like:

Peas

Corn

Pineapple

Mandarin oranges

Black olives

Red pepper

Craisins

Sunflower seeds

Mushrooms

Mix the chicken and soup/gravy together in a sauce pan, and heat until bubbly, adding milk to make it the consistency you like.

To serve:

Put a small amount of rice on your plate (start small, it gets really big FAST!), then top with chicken and gravy, then add the toppings you like. Rusty and the girls prefer the sweeter toppings, I prefer only the savory toppings, I don't like mixing sweet and savory in this dish. It sounds really weird, and it kind of is, but it's strangely good.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I'm a little behind this year. I always plan to do fun activities for the holidays with the kids, but then never actually get around to it. This is a really cute idea. It's a smaller scale than the rainbow cake I made, and easier. I found the idea here.

Rainbow Cupcakes

White cake mix

Food coloring (I prefer the Wilton pastes, and you can just buy the colors you need instead of mixing the four basic colors that come in those funny little bottles)

Baking cups

Whipped cream (optional)

Prepare the white cake mix according to the box, then divide the mix evenly among six small bowls. Dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color; purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order stated. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of the spoon to cover the color underneath.

Bake the cupcakes according to the directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped cream cloud.

Rainbow cupcakes toppers would be super cute on these, as well as little gold sprinkles.

Ideas

I am starting to run out of ideas for recipes. I tend to make the same few recipes for a couple of years, and I've posted most of them. So if anyone has a certain recipe they want to see, let me know, and I'll post it. To help me remember, I'm planning to post the best blueberry muffins, apple brownies (seriously sooooo yummy), zucchini bread and pumpkin bread, and a chocolate marshmallow cake (as soon as I make it!)

So please, start asking or the posts are going to slow waaaaaaay down!

Baked Rice

I've had bad luck with rice lately. It's never the right consistency, either too wet or too dry and crunchy, and I burn it about 50% of the time. So when I saw this recipe, I had to try it. It was so simple, but very good, and it makes your house smell really good. When the kids walked in, they were absolutely convinced that they smelled popcorn! :)

Baked Brown Rice

1 1/2 cups brown rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used 2 1/2 cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients in a 3-quart baking pan or casserole dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for five minutes before removing the aluminum foil and fluffing with a fork.

This makes about 3 1/2 cups of rice, or enough for at least 7 people. I used an 8x8 glass baking dish, and it worked just fine.

Gyros

Again, this recipe came from this site. The chicken was very yummy chicken. This does take quite a bit of time, but I think it's worth it. It is heavy on lemon though, so if you don't like lemon, you might not like this meal.

Chicken Gyros

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp red wine vinegar

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

2 heaping TBSP plain yogurt (I used sour cream)

1 TBSP dried oregano

salt and pepper

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

Combine the garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl (I doubled the marinade, and I think it was just right for this amount of chicken). Whisk together until mixed well. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Cook the chicken as desired, either in the skillet or with the broiler (I broiled them, and I thought it worked perfectly). Once the chicken is completely cooked through, transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes.

Heat pitas, top with chicken, tzatziki sauce, diced tomatoes and sliced onions. Serve immediately.

Tzatziki Sauce

This is the sauce that you would put on gyros and a lot of Indian foods. I love it, I usually order a side of it Indian restaurants and just eat it with a spoon. I splurged and bought real Greek yogurt sine this was the first time I've ever made it, but I don't know if I'll do that again. The Greek yogurt was super expensive and hard to find, and pretty strong. I think I'll just strain some plain yogurt next time. I found this recipe here.

Tzatziki Sauce

16 oz plain yogurt (not fat free unless it is Greek yogurt)

1 cucumber (I used 1 1/2, but I didn't strain my yogurt, because it was Greek yogurt, so I had more yogurt than you would have if you strained plain yogurt)

2-3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press

1 tsp red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Extra virgin olive oil

Strain the yogurt using cheesecloth over a bowl. Let strain for at least a few hours, overnight is better. You'll be surprised how much liquid drains from the yogurt. You want the yogurt thicl and creamy.

Shred the cucumber. Wrap in a towel and squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Again, you'll be surprised how much water comes out of it. Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste (it takes quite a bit of salt), and lemon juice to taste. Drizzle lightly with olive oil (I didn't do this part, because I hate oil on top of my food). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Serve with Gyros or Naan.

Flat Bread

This recipe comes from this site, which is my favorite recipe site. Besides the fact that she uses way too much cream, her recipes are right up my alley, and they're generally easy and down to earth. I don't have time for fancy ingredients or recipes that take 6 hours to prep, or are super fussy recipes. So this site is where I've gotten a lot of my ideas lately and I love it. I love Greek food, so when she posted about this flat bread, I knew I had to make gyros (pronounced like Euros.) I'll post the flat bread recipe today, and the recipe for the gyros filling tomorrow. This bread was good with the gyros as well as with honey butter (I'm a total copycat!) And I think they would be good as simple, mini pizzas as well, if there were left overs, which there weren't when I made them!

Soft Wrap Bread

From King Arthur Flour

Make about 8-9 breads (I 1 1/2ed the recipe so it made 12 breads. We had company, and there were only 3 left over)

3 to 3 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup potato flour OR 1/2 cup potato flakes (I used potato flakes because they're cheaper)

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 TBSP vegetable oil

1 tsp instant yeast

Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl or the bucket of a bread machine (I used my Bosch). Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir until smooth. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes (by hand, mixer or bread machine) to form a soft dough.

You can allow the dough to go through the entire kneading cycle in the bread machine, but it's not necessary, about a 5-minute knead in the machine, once it gets up to full kneading speed, is fine. The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat sticky (the dough is fairly stiff, so don't be worried, just be careful not to over flour the dough). Add additional flour only is necessary; if kneading by hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled (I didn't add any more flour to mine). Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour (I think it needs more like 2 hours to rise).

Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each about the size of a handball), cover, and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece into a 7-8 inch circle and dry-fry them (fry without oil) on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat for about 1 minute per side (I used my cast iron frying pan, and it worked like a charm), until they're puffed and flecked with brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking to quickly which means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out. Transfer cooked breads to a wire rack, stacking them to keep them soft (I put the on a plate and covered them with a towel.) Serve immediately.

This recipe took a lot of time, but not too much work. And it's definitely worth it. I love pita bread/flat bread, but I hate the stale, cardboardy stuff that they sell in the grocery store. This is a nice alternative. I bet you could even freeze them and then use them as needed (I like to keep pita bread in the freezer and take one out for my lunch or when we're having burgers and I have a veggie burger).