Maybe I need a real wok?

Sometimes I make Asian dishes and I end up substituting things because my normal grocery stores just don't have it and I don't want to go to the local Asian grocery store because it's out of the way and honestly, the owner is scary. I mean maybe not scary, but crabby is fair. My sister in law told us about Weee! - an online Asian supermarket and we are hooked. They have everything we need for all our Asian cooking... which really isn't that much, but it's enough to love shopping and having things delivered to my front door the next day. My kids are in love with the single serve Korean rice packages, the seaweed snacks, and Andy likes anything and everything. The only thing I left out of this recipe was the chili because nope.... just nope. I could have ordered it from Weee! But nope.
I'll warn you... the fish sauce is something else. Whoa... I mean yes add it - it certainly adds to the overall flavor, but don't go dipping French fries in it. Whoa...
These noodles were loved by all and even eaten as leftovers by all! That's a win. We made a double batch and well worth it. Will for sure be adding these to the rotation.

Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
Ingredients
8 ounces wide rice noodles
Stir-Fry Sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon water
Stir-Fry
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic (minced)
2-3 Thai red chilies (sliced (adjust to taste))
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite-size pieces)
1 small onion (sliced)
1 medium bell pepper (sliced, red)
1 cup broccoli florets
1 carrot (julienned)
2 green onions (cut into 2-inch pieces)
1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
Lime wedges (for serving)

Soak the 8 ounces of wide rice noodles in warm water for 15–20 minutes until they soften. Drain and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 teaspoons lime juice, and 1 tablespoon water until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 4 minced garlic cloves and 2–3 sliced Thai red chilies. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the 1 pound of chicken pieces to the wok. Stir-fry for 5–6 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and lightly browned.
Toss in the sliced onion, bell peppers, broccoli florets, and julienned carrot. Stir-fry for 3–4 minutes until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
Add the softened noodles and stir-fry sauce to the wok. Gently toss everything together, ensuring the noodles are well coated with the sauce. Cook for another 2–3 minutes until the noodles are tender and the sauce has been absorbed.
Stir in the green onions and 1 cup of Thai basil leaves. Cook for an additional 1 minute until the basil is wilted.
Garnish with extra basil leaves and serve with lime wedges on the side. Enjoy immediately!

Giant delicious cookies added to the calendar

It's been a busy year so far with weeks and weekends packed with a full calendar. We finally had a mostly free weekend and these cookies seemed like a great way to celebrate a free weekend. The wild part of this recipe is it's for eight cookies... a full cup of butter for eight cookies. I was pretty sure if I made them that big, we'd be cutting them into pieces to eat them, so rather than make eight giant cookies, I used an ice cream scoop and ended up with 27 cookies instead, still very large for our standards and very delicious. I could have used much more dark chocolate pieces on top, or the sides, but what was there was wonderful. Both kids wandered through, "Ooooh those look good!" they seemed surprised when I offered them one, oh yay! Plenty of chocolate all over hands and faces and rave reviews. I don't think these cookies will be around too long, which is the sign of a great cookie!

Thick Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2 ¾ cups (330g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups (267g) brown sugar
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (255g) high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
3.5-4 oz high quality milk or dark chocolate bar chopped or broken into small pieces
flaky sea salt

This recipe yields eight 5.5-5.7 oz cookies. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat for 30 seconds, until fully combined.
Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. I like to finish mixing with a spatula to ensure everything is evenly combined. The dough will be thick.
Using a kitchen scale, portion the dough into 5.5 to 5.7 oz balls. Roll each ball between your hands, then shape it so it’s slightly taller than it is wide.
Chop the chocolate bar into small pieces, then press the pieces and a few extra chocolate chips onto the outside of each dough ball.
Place 2 cookies at a time on the baking sheet. Bake for 15–18 minutes. I pull mine at 15 minutes—the centers will look slightly underdone but will set as they cool.
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring.

Waving cupcakes make kids smile and have blue teeth!

Wave cupcakes were on the menu for an event for girls club as our them has been Walk on Water.
I found a video that had 5 different shades of blue water, big sugar clams with pearls, graham cracker crumbs for beach - this is what I have. I realized my ability to make different blues wasn't happening and my time also wasn't going to work for 5 different blues. When I shopped for the supplies the store didn't have graham crackers and until that night in bed I forgot I was going to use some from home, totally forgot. You know what? These were great, the girls loved them, they knew what they were and enjoyed them all the same!  (Note: these are blue so my no blue food rule still applies, but kids LOVE blue food, why?  I have no idea.)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature (3 sticks)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle or whisk attachment whip butter on medium-high speed (if using whisk attachment whip on high speed) until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Immediately spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

One giant puff is easier than a bunch of small puffs

I love to bake, sometimes I think I'm pretty good at it. Something I cannot figure out are cream puffs. They've brought me to tears on more than one occasion. I just cannot figure them out. I saw this cake version and decided to give it a try. It was honestly very easy and the pan of puff was very impressive coming out of the oven! I filled it will pudding and cool whip, topped with chocolate syrup and our guests couldn't get enough!
Something I tried with this recipe that I failed at something else recently - mix your pudding and milk together first before adding to the cream cheese... trust me, it will mix in smoother and your filling will be perfect. No weird lumps of pudding mix or cream cheese floating around in there.

Cream Puff Cake Recipe
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 boxes instant vanilla pudding mix, 3.4 ounce each
2 ½ cups milk
8 ounce cream cheese softened
8 ounce Cool Whip thawed
¼ cup chocolate syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 13×9 baking dish with baking spray. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, add the butter and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Remove from heat and whisk in flour.
Pour flour mixture into a mixing bowl and add in eggs one at a time until well blended. Add vanilla extract.
Spread into prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk until blended. Beat in softened cream cheese (for about 3-4 minutes).
Pour into cooled crust. Top with cool whip. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.
Refrigerate for at least one hour. ENJOY.

A float or a punch - either make happy faces

"Should we serve punch?"
"Oh that would be nice!"
We were having an event for our girls club that included the prayer partners and girls - and lots of fun themed treats. I was trying to see what else we should serve and punch was brought up. I asked my mom for her punch recipe. "Oh my mother always did the punch and I don't have any of those recipes." Hrm... She's my go to for things like this. So off to the internet. The thing about almost all punch recipes is I'm allergic to something in all of them. I finally found this recipe and figured it was workable and ingredients would be easy to find, I mean... maybe... I subbed orange sherbet for the rainbow because I could only find orange.
Oh... Ok... here's the challenge... who has a punch bowl anymore in the year of our Lord 2026... no one I tell you... no one. Could I have gone and found one at Goodwill? Probably but then I'm stuck storing a punch bowl! I found a big bowl at church and what I thought was a big glass bowl at home. When I brought mine to church, suddenly it looked small, but it worked!
I didn't get any pictures of the actual bowls of punch because I was running around the whole night but the girls loved the punch and one even told me how much she loved the "float". Huh... yeah, she wasn't wrong, it was very much like a float! I recreated it for my family so they could have a try and they agreed it was pretty tasty!

Rainbow Sherbet Punch
Sprite
Hawaiian Punch
Rainbow Sherbet

Mix equal parts Sprite with Hawaiian Punch. Then, top it with the rainbow sherbet ice cream and serve.
Note that these ingredients are best served cold, so its a good idea to chill the punch and sprite before using.