Simply Good Chicken Casserole

This is a very creamy recipe with a bit of crunch that my friend gave me. It's soooo delicious and I'm always asked for the recipe. I've doubled it for potlucks. You could save time by using a 3 pound bag of boneless skinless chicken and cooking it ahead of time. Why not pop the chicken into your crock pot to cook while you are at work? When you get home, you just assemble and bake! Your family will ask you to make this again and again. Try it and I think you'll be pleased.

• Ready In: 1 hr 35 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3  lbs broiler-fryer chickens
• 2  quarts water
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon pepper
• 1 (10 3/4ounce) can  cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 (10 3/4ounce) can  cream of celery soup, undiluted
• 1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
• 0.5 (16 ounce) package  buttery crackers (2 stacks, crushed)
• 1⁄4 cup butter or 1⁄4 cup margarine, melted

Directions

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large Dutch oven, bring to a boil.
2. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until tender.
3. Remove chicken, and cool slightly. Skin and bone chicken, cut into bite-size pieces.
4. In a large bowl, combine chicken, soups, sour cream and pepper.
5. Place half of crushed crackers in a lightly greased 7x11 baking dish;
6. spoon chicken mixture over crackers.
7. Top with remaining cracker crumbs and drizzle with butter.
8. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.