Hawaiian Haystacks

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Quiz: What main dish is beautiful, delicious, and has all four food groups? I bet you’re going to guess Hawaiian Haystacks. Especially since the title of this post is “Hawaiian Haystacks” and there is a picture of Hawaiian Haystacks.

Correct! You are so smart!

Our whole family loves this meal. It has so many colorful fruits, vegetables, and nuts in it. However, it can be somewhat of a pain to prepare this dish because of all the cutting involved. But I recently received three awesome kitchen tools from OXO that made prepping this dinner a breeze! I have always loved OXO products and look for them first whenever I shop for anything to use in the kitchen. They are sturdy, well-designed, and last a long time.

First was the Rice & Grains Washing Colander. I almost always make Japanese rice in my rice cooker. Before you cook the rice, it has to be rinsed. Regular colanders have holes that are too big, so I always swished the rice around in the rice cooker bowl and then carefully tried to pour the water in the sink without losing too much rice. I had to do this several times in order for the water to be clear and not milky. But this OXO colander has a cool little “cup” section with holes for the rice to settle in as it drains so that you don’t accidentally pour your rice down the sink. The colander drains from the bottom and also from this little section at the top.

The next thing that I love is the Adjustable Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer. I had a mandoline many years ago. However, it was jettisoned after an unfortunate encounter with my thumb in which the mandoline won. I have been wary of mandolines ever since. But I was so excited when I got this one because it has awesome features! First of all, it is adjustable. You just twist the knob on the side to make the “ramp” go lower or higher. This increases or decreases the size of your slices. When you twist it to zero, the ramp comes up slightly higher than the blade so you can store it and not accidentally cut yourself as you put it in or get it out from the cupboard or drawer.

I love that it also has a see-through portion at the end so you can tell how much you have cut. A safety grip snaps onto the back for storage, but is great for saving thumbs (and fingers) when you put it on top of your tomato, potato, or green pepper and use it to push the food across the blade.

Now this last thing I wasn’t so sure about. It is the Grape & Tomato Cutter. I wondered what I would ever use this for. Then I thought of those salads where you have to cut grapes in half, and everything that has sliced olives (like pizza and potato salad). It was so time-consuming (and a little worrisome) to be slicing small, slippery objects. So I tried using the Grape and Tomato Cutter, and I failed. It just smashed the grapes and olives and they got stuck in the blades. I told my husband, and he suggested there was some “user error” involved. I had been setting the cutter down on a cutting board and smashing the food. But he demonstrated that if you held it up in the air, it easily and cleanly sliced the food.

You can operate the Grape and Tomato Cutter with one hand. Then you can lock and load your olives, grapes, or grape tomatoes and quickly quarter them. It’s WAY faster (and safer) than trying to cut each small food item individually with a little knife. (You just put your food in the little window there and push down on the plunger. You can seriously do this so quickly, and it’s really fun!)

And here is the finished product with rice washed and drained using the Rice & Grains Washing Colander, green peppers sliced with the Adjustable Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer, and olives quartered with the Grape & Tomato Cutter.

(Note: I was sent these three kitchen implements for free by OXO and did not receive any monetary compensation. I am not lying when I say that OXO really is my favorite, and I would say it whether I received free products or not).

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Hawaiian Haystacks

Author: Melissa Howell

Ingredients

• cooked white or brown rice
• 1 10 1/2 oz. can cream of chicken soup, heated (you can make the soup like gravy by adding 1/2 a can of water or milk)
• Various toppings such as:
• cooked chicken
• pineapple tidbits
• quartered olives
• chopped green peppers
• chopped red peppers
• sliced green onions
• cashews or macadamia nuts
• shredded cheese
• shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Place desired amount of cooked rice on individual serving plates or in bowls.
2. Top with desired amount of cream of chicken soup.
3. Top with desired amount of toppings.
4. Eat and enjoy!