Houston's Grilled Chicken Salad

One of my favorite things to do as a teenager was drive into Houston for shopping and lunch with my mom. We'd head to Rice Village to try on shoes and pretty dresses, mostly from the sales racks. Sometimes, if we weren't ready to stop shopping and lunch was nowhere in sight, mom would ply me with a mocha frappuccino, a clever substitute for a meal in a pinch. I was about 14 when mom started realizing I tend to get a smidge edgy if I haven't eaten in a few hours. Yes, edgy is the word I should be described as. Bitchy is just plain mean. Even if it is accurate. 

One of our favorite places to reverse my mood swing was Houston's restaurant, particularly for their Grilled Chicken Salad. It took moving across the country three times to realize this place was a chain. I just thought every city had a restaurant named after it and ours was particularly good.

Our favorite thing on the menu was always the Original Grilled Chicken Salad. Never had it? Well, to sum up, it smells of limes and tastes like heaven. Plus there are a bunch of crispy fried tortilla strips on the top which can confuse your brain and make you think you're eating nachos instead of salad. Nothing wrong with that. I swiped this from the Secret Recipe blog, which recreates the ingredients in chain restaurant's most popular dishes. If I was spending the day in Houston, I'd take my mom to Houston's. But since we're separated by a few states, the least I can do is send her the recipe.

Houston's Original Grilled Chicken Salad

1 bag mixed salad greens

1 large carrot, julienne cut

2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced

thin tortilla strips

Lime Dressing                                    Peanut Sauce: 

1/2 cup lime juice                               4 tbsp soy sauce

7 tbsp honey                                      4 tbsp hot water

      4 tsp honey mustard                           4 tbsp peanut butter

2 garlic cloves, minced                       2 tsp sesame oil

           tsp black pepper                              1 tbsp ground ginger

                                        1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl, combine the lime dressing ingredients and mix well. In a large bowl, combine the salad greens, carrots, sliced chicken and tortilla strips (I baked mine). Pour the lime dressing over the salad and toss to combine.  Transfer the salad to 4 salad plates. In another bowl, combine the ingredients for the peanut sauce and mix well. Drizzle each salad with the peanut sauce and serve.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmoms, soon-to-be moms, and want-to-be-moms. And a big Texas-sized hug to my lil' mama, who means more to me than she'll ever know. 

Kahlua Brownies with Buttercream Frosting

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big drinker. I've been known to nurse a tall glass of club soda  for an hour or two (bartenders love me). I just never really developed a taste for alcohol. Wait--scratch that. Reverse it. I never developed a taste for hard alcohol. But sweet, sticky, desserty booze like Bailey's and Kahlua? Oh yeah. I've definitely got a taste for that.

And years ago, I stumbled on a recipe that made me drunk with glee--Kahlua Brownies. I found it in my mother's copy of a fantastic cookbook called Stop and Smell the Rosemary, a compilation of recipes from women in the Houston Junior League. Not only can those ladies volunteer like champs, they can also cook and bake like pros. I think this is my favorite cookbook ever.

Kahlua Brownies with Buttercream Frosting

Step 1: Crust 

1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed; 5 1/3 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp; 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted; 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add flour and continue to mix until blended. Add pecans. When completely combined, press crust into bottom of prepared pan and set aside. 

Step 2: Filling

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate; 1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 2 large eggs; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/2 cup light brown sugar firmly packed; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1/4 cup Kahlua; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Combine chocolate, shortening and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Cool. Combine eggs, sugars, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix until blended. Stir into cooled chocolate mixture. Add Kahlua. Slowly add flour and salt, mixing until batter is smooth. Stir in pecans, then pour filling into prepared crust. Bake 25 minutes or until tested in center comes out smooth. Let cool.

Step 3: Buttercream Frosting

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp; 2 cups sifted powdered sugar; 1 tbsp Kahlua; 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream 

Cream butter, sugar, Kahlua and cream in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. Spread over cooled brownies and refrigerate 30 minutes. More Kahlua may be added to make spreading easier. For a less sweet brownie,  use half of Buttercream Frosting. (I made only half a batch of frosting).

I've made these for several groups of people over the years and for my friends Jen and Jackie most recently (don't worry: I carded them first) and after the buzz wore off, they all gave me an enthusiastic two thumbs up. The Kahlua punches up the chocolate flavor in a major way and the pecan crust adds great texture. But the real standout is the Kahlua-infused buttercream frosting. If you can mix up a batch of this stuff without draggin' your finger (or your tongue) along the rim of the bowl, well, you're a better person than me.