Taco meat fillings in Crepes

Tonight's dinner was fast and simple. We wanted to have Mexican food but do not have any Taco shells or Tortillas. In order to replace Taco shells, I made Crepes. French and Mexican combined. Simple and delicious. :)

It is very easy to make the taco meat fillings. I just used the Taco seasoning mix that can easily get at the store. Follow the instructions at the back of the packet. For my crepes, I followed the recipe from my recipe book. I love to eat crepes.. especially as desserts. All that chocolate sauce, ice-cream or even with Nutella.. oh my.. i wish i have some Nutella right now.. lol!! Anyway, it was a good dinner for the two of us. :)

Taco meat filling
1 package of Taco Seasoning Mix
2/3 cup water
1 pound ground beef

In a small saucepan, brown and crumble ground beef. Drain fat. Wipe out the excess fat in the saucepan with paper towels. Stir in Taco seasoning mix and water. Cook and stir for 2-4 minutes.

Crepes
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2-1/4 cups butter melted
pinch of salt

Combined eggs, milk and water. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the combined mixture. With a whisk gradually drawn in the flour and whisk to a smooth batter. Stir in the melted butter. Pour into a jug and set aside for 30 minutes.
Heat a 8-inch non-stick frying pan and grease lightly. When the pan is hot, pour in about 1/4 cup of the mixture and tilt the pan to cover. Tip out any excess batter. When the edges begin to curl, gently turn the pancake over with a spatula. Cook until lightly browned on both sides and slide onto a plate. Serve immediately.

Top with diced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream.. hmm.. yummy!

Chinese Orange Chicken

I have to thank Lila for this great recipe. It is so good!!!! My hubby and I enjoyed it very much! Last week, I was watching some videos @ Youtube.com and decided to search for some cooking videos. I stumbled upon Lila's videos and the Chinese food she made were very mouth watery.. lol.. So I decided to take down the recipe for Chinese Orange Chicken and give it a try...

Ingredients:
3 boneless chicken breast (abt 1.5 lbs)
2 large green onions (scallion)
1 cup flour
2 eggs - beaten
1 cup and 2 tbsp cornstarch
2-3 cups vegetable oil

{A} For the sauce:

• 1-1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup dark/light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1. Remove the fats and cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.
2. Wash green onions under running water and pad dry with paper towels. Chop the green onions. Set aisde.
3. Mix {A} altogether for the sauce. Set aside.
4. Prepare the thickener. Mix 2 tbsp cornstarch with a little water.
5. Coat the chicken in flour then into the beaten egg and coat again with cornstarch.
6. Heat oil and deep fry the coated chicken for abt 5-6 minutes or until light brown.
7. Once all chicken is cooked, remove the oil and wipe out wok.
8. Add the sauce mixture. Heat on high and bring it to a boil.
9. Lower the heat. Add the cornstarch paste and stir till the mixture becomes thick.
10. Lastly add the chicken and green onions. Serve hot with plain rice.

This chicken recipe is in my favorites list.. easy and delicious. Check out Lila's "Asian Cooking made Easy" @ YouTube.com here! Thanks again Lila for this awesome recipe. :o)

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S&SB : Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I haven't been participating in Sweet and Simple Bakes for a long time.. I am so sorry Rosie and Maria. I really felt bad for not able to join the past months... I missed so many great bakes. My bad! I got to know about this bake 3 days ago. Luckily, I have most of the ingredients except for the cream cheese.. that is easy to get.. So I quickly made it so that I can post on the required posting date. :)

Actually I never had carrot cake before... I just never like the idea of carrot and spices in my cake.. But after one bite of my own baked carrot cake, hmm... yummy!!! Even my hubby rated A+. hehe.. I was very pleased with the carrot cake but wasn't too pleased with my frosting.. This is my 2nd time!!! Its not in the right consistency. I am not sure what when wrong?? I used powdered sugar and all the ingredients required but still not right.. :( I will keep trying until its right! I didn't put the picture of the whole cake because I thought the presentation of the cake is not attractive enough so you'll see only parts of it.. hehe...

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 12

Ingredients
180g (6½ oz) self-raising (self-rising) flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp mixed spice (Pumpkin pie spice)
2 eggs
150 ml (5 fl oz) vegetable or sunflower oil
200g (7 oz) soft light or dark brown sugar
300g (11 oz) grated carrots
100g (4 oz) sultanas
75g (3 oz) walnuts, chopped (optional)
Cream Cheese Icing
75g (3 oz) cream cheese
75g (3 oz) softened butter
125g (4½ oz) icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
For Decoration
Sprinkles or walnut halves - optional

You will need a 13cm x 23cm (5 in x 9 in) loaf tin, oil and line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas mark 2. Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl and leave aside. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, now add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, sultanas and chopped walnuts. Stir in all sifted dry ingredients and bring the mixture together with a wooden spoon. Turn into the prepared tin, smooth the top of the mixture and bake in the oven for 1 – 1¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make The Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and mix to combine. Using a palette knife, spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cake. Add the sprinkles or walnut halves if desired. Served cut into slices.

Notes:

1. You can play around with the dried fruits and nuts and use, raisins in place of sultanas and pecans in place of walnuts for alternatives.

2. I would advise you to store this cake in a cool place due to the cream cheese icing.

3. If using plain (all-purpose) flour - The rule of thumb is that for every 100g (4oz) of flour you will need to add 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

I just thought of taking the picture below because it was my first time using the Foodbuzz s apron. You see, Foodbuzz sent me this apron late last year but I didn't get a chance to use it.. Not only that, I get my namecards too. hehe.. cool ah! Well today's blog is all about my first time.. heheh.. well.. there's always first time for everything, right... And thank you Foodbuzz for the lovely apron and the namecards. :)

Dun forget to check out Sweet and Simple Bakes for the bakes from SS members. Thanks Rosie and Maria for this wonderful bake. xoxo
Have a great weekends everyone! :)