I have a confession to make … I have a lot of recipes that call for sour cream. In my defense I try to use “light” sour cream at least 🙂 There is something about the creamy yummy deliciousness that draws me to sour creamy recipes and they soon become family favorites. One of the staples around my house is Poppyseed Chicken. I always have most of the ingredients on hand, but the one thing that is a kicker is the sour cream.

Whenever I go to the grocery store I try to grab a tub or two of sour cream, but considering I try to avoid going to the grocery store as much as possible, this never lasts for very many meals. The other day I really wanted to make poppyseed chicken, and I REALLY did not want to go to the store for sour cream, so I broke out my little pantry can of sour cream powder and decided to risk ruining the recipe with it. Well I have to say, it was a completely suitable substitution. Hurray!

Now knowing me, of course my next thought was “could I make this entire MEAL shelf stable”? That was quite the adventure but I’m happy to let you know that it is possible, and delicious. And your families will be thanking you in a powerless emergency that you can make something absolutely normal (and delicious). Please note, I do not pretend that this is a “healthy” meal, proceed with caution.

Here is the scoop on the recipe and the substitutions I made:

Poppyseed Chicken (original recipe)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken, diced and boiled
2 cans cream of chicken soup
12-16 oz sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter

Topping:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tubes ritz crackers, crushed
2 T. poppyseeds

Directions:
Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and butter. Pour over cooked chicken in a 9×13 pan or a slightly smaller oval casserole dish. Combine topping ingredients in small bowl. Sprinkle over top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Cover with foil until the last 5 minutes or the topping may get browner than you like. Serve over rotini noodles.

Poppyseed Chicken (shelf stable version)

Ingredients:
1 qt jar home-canned chicken or 3 cups freeze-dried chicken reconstituted
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or 20 ounces bean flour cream of chicken)
1 1/2 cups sour cream powder, rehydrated with 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter powder, rehydrated with 1/2 cup water

Topping:
1/2 cup butter powder, rehydrated with 1/2 cup water
2 tubes ritz crackers, crushed
2 T. poppyseeds

Directions:
Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and butter. I happened to be out of cream of chicken soup this day too, so I used the bean flour cream of chicken recipe doubled, and then only used 20 ounces of it. It seemed to work just fine in this recipe but I still like cans of cream of chicken for the ease on some days. Pour over chicken in a 9×13 pan or a slightly smaller oval casserole dish. Combine topping ingredients in small bowl. The rehydrated butter is a lot more runny than regular butter, but it doesn’t mix with the ritz like normal melted butter would. It ended up being more mushy rather than crumbly. Use your hands to sprinkle over top of chicken mixture as best you can. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Cover with foil until the last 5 minutes or the topping may get browner than you like. Serve over rotini noodles.

-Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net