Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos with Pico de Gallo

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Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and with it the unofficial start of summer. If you haven’t already, it’s time to clean up the grill, fill up the pool and get the bug zapper primed for the upcoming mosquito invasion. The holiday is the perfect excuse to get the family and friends together to grill copious amounts of meat and burn a cord of wood in the fire pit.

For this recipe, I make a grilled chicken soft taco with fresh pico de gallo. These tacos are great for a weeknight meal with the family, but can also be adapted to feed a large group. The grilled chicken features a Mexican spice rub that includes chili powder and cumin. Slicing the chicken thin and using a small tortilla helps it go a surprisingly long way. The pico de gallo is a simple salsa-like tomato salad with all fresh ingredients and requires no cooking.

This little treat is an excellent dinner whether your basking in the sun with family and friends at an outdoor bash or just coming in from a long day working in the garden.

BEHIND THIS BITE
This is about the ninth different taco I’ve posted here, but i really can’t get enough of them. They are like an entire meal wrapped in a yummy blanket! I can say for sure that tacos are what I would request for my last meal. Not these tacos, but some kind of taco featuring fillet, prime rib or lobster and a kick ass sauce.

This taco features a fresh pico de gallo and a spice rub. Between those I included enough flavors that I didn’t need a taco sauce or traditional salsa which usually contain the “magic,” or flavors that make it stand out. Here the flavor is in the spice rub and garnish.

These tacos were inspired by the “Fresco” tacos at Taco Bell. The Bell is my fast food joint of choice and I’m always ordering different stuff. I discovered that “Fresco” meant they put a "fiesta salsa" which is similar to pico de gallo on the taco just last week. I actually liked it. It was fast food, so naturally it’s something I wouldn't request at a formal dinner, but for a quick lunch – I’ll put “Fresco” crunchy taco from Taco Bell on the “eat this if you have to get food in your body because it’s 2:30 and you haven’t eaten all day” list.

Eat well, cook often ...