Chinese Sundays

My husband, Chuck, learned to make this from someone when serving a church mission to New York City.  The original recipe calls for canned Cream of Chicken soup with 3/4 can of milk to each can instead of the gravy.  But in trying not to buy processed food, I made the gravy recipe to substitute.  This recipe is essentially haystacks, but with not as many toppings.  We've been making this recipe since we got married 30 years ago.  I guess you could say it's a tradition in our family.

Recipe:

1 package chow mien noodles
4-8 C cooked rice
1 lb cheddar cheese, grated
2 cans crushed pineapple
2-3 pounds roasted chicken
½ C butter
½ C flour
3 C water
3 C milk
4-6 oz cream cheese
6 tsp chicken bouillon
1 tsp sucanut or sugar
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder

If you're really in a hurry, you can omit everything from butter on down and just substitute 2-3 cans of Cream of Chicken soup plus 3/4 can of milk per can of soup.  Refrigerate pineapple. Roast, poach or broil chicken until done. Cut into cubes and set aside. Put butter to melt. Add flour to make light brown roux. Add heated milk slowly with whisk until smooth. Add Spices and cream cheese and boil 1 minute. Add chicken and remove from heat. Serve all separate. To assemble each serving, start with noodles, then rice, gravy, cheese and finally pineapple. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.