Poppy Seed Chicken

2 (10-oz. cans) cream of chicken soup
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup chicken broth
6 cups chicken, chopped or shredded
3/4 tsp. black pepper
3 Tbs. poppy seeds
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 1/2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed

Heat cream of chicken soup, cream cheese and chicken broth in large saucepan over medium heat, whisking to prevent sticking.
Mix melted butter with crackers.
Place rice in 9×13 greased pan.
Put 3 cups cooked rice in bottom of pan (If using rice instead of noodles. If using noodles, bake the chicken and layer on cooked noodles.)
Layer chicken onto rice.
Pour gravy over chicken.
Top with cracker mixture.
Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

How we got so poppy:
The previous owner did have some excellent recipes. Some of which had come about from trial and error; and some from a sweet lady that had worked for him. She’d formerly worked in some facet for the test kitchens of a major magazine.
So, as we kept churning out new recipes, new requests, new mistakes …. we kept steady with the old tried and true favorites. Several customers had been asking about a chicken dish with gravy. You just can’t go wrong with gravy. I believe it is a Southern staple. You could serve stale bread or some meat surprise, and as long as gravy sits atop, folks would lap it up. … Well, maybe not. But gravy is a dish picker-upper.
JoAnne knew they must be talking about Poppy Seed Chicken. So the very day we made this and e-mailed it to our customers on the daily menu, we sold out within the hour.
Added bonus: This dish has no onion chunks in it, so I liked it too.