Hawaiian Haystacks II

Prep Time:

Cook time:

Serves:

Description
The "Hawaiian Haystacks" combination sounds extremely odd, but it has a wonderful taste. Every time it was served in the cafeteria of the hospital where I worked more than a decade ago, I was first in line to get a plateful.

Ingredients

 * 3 cups cooked chicken (either cook from fresh or use leftovers)
 * 2 cups cream of chicken soup (combined with 1 c of water)
 * ½ cup celery, sliced
 * ½ cup frozen or fresh peas (do not use canned)
 * 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
 * ½ cup green onions, sliced (include greens)
 * ½ cup dry Chinese noodles
 * 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
 * ½ cup maraschino cherries
 * ½ cup pineapple chunks (canned)
 * 1 cup slivered almonds
 * ¼ cup shredded coconut
 * 2 cups white rice, cooked
 * salt and pepper to taste

Directions

 * 1) In a large pot, combine the cream of chicken soup, and one cup of water so that when stirred, it resembles a thick gravy.
 * 2) Season with salt and pepper.
 * 3) Cook the chicken by broiling, baking or steaming (or use leftovers), and cube into bite-sized pieces.
 * 4) Mix the cooked chicken cubes with the chicken soup mixture into the large pot.
 * 5) (add another can of cream of chicken soup and more water if there is not enough gravy to cover the chicken pieces).
 * 6) Simmer this mixture while preparing the other ingredients and cooking the white rice. Note: Use Uncle Ben's Boil-In-A-Bag Rice, or go from scratch using long-grain rice and boil for twenty minutes.
 * 7) On a serving platter (or in a large casserole dish), layer rice on the bottom.
 * 8) Top with the chicken and gravy mixture, and then layer with the celery, peas, carrots, green onions, maraschino cherries, pineapple chunks and the coconut.
 * 9) Sprinkle the Chinese noodles, slivered almonds and cheese on the very top.
 * 10) Either re-heat on the platter or the baking dish in a microwave or oven (just enough to make the food hot), and serve.