Cheesy Mexican Chicken & Rice

Dinner for one.. sort of. Paul is working night shift tonight so I made dinner and then delivered his portion to him. He bought some chicken thighs at the store today so I thought I'd give this recipe a whirl. I made some minor modifications, of course. This dish is also a bit inspired by a dish my mom makes. She calls it Chili Chicken, and I'm sure it'll end up on here eventually.

I didn't measure anything, so use your judgement if you try to recreate it!

Cheesy Mexican Chicken & Rice

Ingredients
6 chicken thighs
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper
1 cup grated cheese ( I used old cheddar, but the mexican/taco mix pre-shredded cheese would be really good here)
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded spinach
1/4 cup chopped green onion
Rice

Directions

1. Cook rice

2. Sprinkle chicken thighs with chili, garlic, cumin and salt and pepper.

3. Heat oven to 350 F

4. In pan heated medium-high, cook chicken on one side until nice and crispy on the bottom. Not burned, but seared with a nice crust from the spices. Maybe 5-6 min? Flip, sprinkle other side of chicken with same spices if you haven't already. Fry until you get a similar looking sear/crust. Cook until done, flipping as necessary.

5. Once your rice is close to done, lay the chicken in a single layer in the bottom of an oven-proof dish.

6. Pour salsa over top of the chicken and spread evenly.

7. Spread chopped spinach over top of the chicken and then cover it with grated cheese.

8. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted, then flip on the broiler for a few minutes to get the cheese nice and bubbly and crispy on top.

9. Serve over rice, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and dive in.