Hawaiian Haystacks

Most people I know love haystacks.  But everyone has their own opinion on what makes a good stack.  I grew up having completely different toppings from the hub, and if you do a search on the interwebs, you'll quickly see that everyone makes them their own special way.  Which is one of the reasons I love them!  Totally customizable, and very kid friendly.  And this, my friends, is how we stack.

Ingredients:

• 4 T. butter/spread
• 4 T. flour (2 T. brown rice flour + 2 T. tapioca/potato flour)
• 2 c. chicken/vegetable broth
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 t. ginger
• 2 cans chicken, drained
• prepared rice
• celery, finely chopped
• green onions, thinkly sliced
• red bell pepper, finely chopped
• chow mein noodles
• pineapple chunks
• sliced almonds
• coconut

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  As butter begins to brown, add flour and stir.  Cook for one minute, stirring constantly.
2. Slowly whisk in chicken broth, 1 c. at a time.  Allow to thicken before adding more broth and whisk well.  Simmer until desired consistency.
3. Add in chicken and heat through.  Remove from heat.
4. Serve gravy over prepared rice.  Top with desired toppings and dig in!

As a little side note, this makes for a great food storage meal.  But if you'd rather use cooked chicken (or none at all), feel free.  I know a lot of people use canned chicken soup as their gravy base, and truth be told, so did I.  That's how my mom made it, and then we would add the soy sauce individually.  I stopped buying canned soup a while ago, so while making my own gravy from scratch I decided to add the soy sauce to it directly rather than as its own topping.  Between that and the added garlic and ginger, this gravy really has a great flavor that blends perfectly with the listed toppings.  Reminds me of the islands ;)

But if you grew up eating haystacks with olives, or tomatoes, then you might want to omit the soy sauce and ginger.  Feel free to experiment and make it your own...  Because that's what makes haystacks so great!  *B