Chris Cooks

Halloween Haystacks and Egging.

October 31, 2012

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Really, these haystacks have nothing to do with Halloween.  Except that I requested them for dinner last night–which we called “Devil’s Night” growing up.  Chris is the cook around here and night after night he whips up the most amazing meals.  Last night, I had a hankering for something simple and comforting–Hawaiian haystacks.  And he delivered.

Chris’s Hawaiian Haystacks stacked up like this:

Brown Rice
Grilled Chicken–thinly sliced
Gravy (Chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, lemon juice, pineapple juice, ancho chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and Tony Chacheres cajun seasoning)
Green Onions
Jalapeños
Pineapple
Cilantro
Black Olives
Orange Peppers
Tomatoes
Celery
Crunchy Chow Mein Noodles

It seriously hit the spot. Tonight, I’ll be taking Greta (our little Mowgli) around our cul-de-sac for her first time trick-or-treating and then running back home so that the Halloween hooligans don’t take all of our candy marked with a “Please take 2 or 3” sign while I’m gone.  Wishful thinking, I’m sure.  It was tradition in my family for my dad to take us trick-or-treating growing up–which I fully intend to keep going the next time Chris isn’t in Vegas for business on Halloween.

Any Hawaiian haystack lovers out there?  What do you put on yours? I’m already looking forward to leftovers and gawking at all the trick-or-treaters tonight. What was your most memorable Halloween??  When I was nine years old, I was dressed up as a pumpkin head, wearing a plaid shirt and overalls and a big paper-mached jack-o-lantern on my head, and a big truck zoomed passed us and threw eggs at me! Twice!  I thought I had been shot!  Not cool.

Happy Halloween, friends!

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What do you think?

  1. michelle says:

    we call it snow on the mountain here and it’s topped with coconut! basically the same thing otherwise.

  2. Kelly Anne says:

    I have never heard of Hawaiian haystacks. Is this a western thing? It looks so cute, but I can’t imagine pineapple, olives, and chicken gravy all together!!

  3. Erin {Home Everyday} says:

    This recipe looks awesome! I cannot wait to try it!

  4. ahahhaa I just told Karen the pumpkin head egging story, I was rolling on the floor not even able to get to the punch line…you getting egged

  5. We are Mennonite and love haystacks! I’m vegetarian so we usually use black beans rather than chicken. Yum!

  6. Brandilyn says:

    i blogged about my days as a pioneer for halloween today, but my FAVORITE halloween was going trick or treating on horseback–we lived out in the country and it was too far to walk in between houses! my mom had to call ahead so the neighbors knew we were coming because we never got trick or treaters out in the sticks. our neighbors were so sweet and excited; they all had bundles of king-sized candy or homemade cookies bagged up cute for us! best halloween ever. i’ve never had haystacks before…but i know tons of people who love them! i think it is an LDS culture thing.

  7. meaganbriggs3 says:

    I’m still bitter, but my costume in kindergarten was a Nordstroms gift box. While all the other 5 yr old kids were witches and pumpkins, I was a flipping box. Apparently it was a popular costume that year?? Whooooo knooooows. But one yr I was a picnic table. That one rocked.

  8. Debbie says:

    I asked my husband if we could make them and he had never heard of them either! I just googled it and the Wikipedia page for Hawaiian Haystacks says the dish is popular in Mormon culture. Interesting!

  9. Hahaha! Hmmm. I never thought about that, but I think you might be on to something! I have only ever had them at church camps and my mother-in-law, who was raised Mormon (my parents were not), makes them quite a bit. Interesting!

  10. Debbie says:

    A friend made these for me when I came over for dinner once. They were really good but I had never heard of them before…..just wondering if there is a Mormon connection (my friend who made them is Mormon)

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