Hispanic Chicken and Rice

My grandmother is Puerto Rican.  She was born here in the US, but her father was born in Puerto Rico and then moved to NYC as a young adult.  My great grandfather, who I never met, made a traditional chicken and rice dish ever Christmas eve.  He learned the recipe from his father, and then it got passed down to my grandmother.  Aroz con pollo, that Christmas eve meal, has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember.  My mom, sister and I made aroz con pollo this year.  It take a few hours to make and is a lot of work.  I love the dish, and wanted to make an easier, faster version of it.  Ok, so mine isn't as good as the real thing.  But it's a nice week night dinner.

Ingredients: 
Spanish yellow rice mix, found in the hispanic foods section of the grocery store
Chicken, I used 2 chicken thighs because they were on sale
Salsa to taste
1 can of peas

Start Cooking:
1.  Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the chicken in a baking dish and cover with 1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite salsa.  Bake for an hour.
2.  While the chicken is baking, make the rice according to the directions on the box.
3.  Once the chicken is cooked, let sit for about 20 minutes so it can cool off.  Pick all the chicken off the bones, and make into bite size pieces.  Add the chicken to the rice, along with the salsa that was baked with the chicken.  If you like, add extra salsa.
4.  Drain and rinse the canned peas and stir into the rice and chicken.

finished rice and chicken, minus the peas(I didn't have any on hand)

Enjoy!