What's for Dinner? Thai Chicken Burgers!

It's january. I want healthy. I also want SPICY to deal with the cold weather. I want COLOR to combat the white [turning dingy] Minnesota landscape. I want EASY to deal with a law school schedule.

Chicken Burgers - and damn good ones at that. Hits all the elements that are required for this particular dinner - with the added bonus that I got to use some fun kitchen gadgets [though not required!]Check out the recipe here and see how I fared.

Natural Sweetener: Maple Syrup in my coffee!

    Sometimes - I just can't sit in the library and I don't want to hold my condo hostage from my husband - so I go to a coffee shop to study.  

    Using maple syrup in my skim 3 shot latte was purely accidental - really more laziness in the guise of creative ingeniuity. Here I am with my highlighters, books and laptop spread out across the tiny little coffee-shop table. With everything in place - I didn't feel like walking over to the sugar and cream stand to make my strong latte a little more sweet. So - I used the maple syrup that came with my oatmeal.

First - maple syrup in oatmeal. This is really good! The taste is a bit more refined than just brown sugar. I think the liquid form also helped the taste spread through the oatmeal more easily and throroughly than sugar crystals.

Second - maple syrup in a latte is really fantastic. I learned (ck the food facts) that this natural sweetener is only 60% as sweet as white sugar. It also has added nutrients of Magnesium and Zinc. This is a much better alternative to unnatural *fake* sugar in my book! Of course, I'm not diabetic - so I don't have to worry about blood sugar issues.

I'm quite certain that this accidental and lazy discovery of mine has been perfected by many out in the world of foodie internets. So - what kind of suggestions do you have? Below are some more sites that I found interesting regarding the use of natural sweeteners - but I love hearing real stories!

LivRite alternative sweeteners in the home

US News article on natural sweeteners

Recipes from the Minnesota Maple Syrup Producers website

Spring Cupcakes

Cheat Day Cafe posted a 'sweet' recipe for low/no fat cupcakes that will fit into any spring diet plan. To celebrate the first day of spring today - i had to bring in some treats for my office. I decided to go with the "lite" version of cupcakes - because the office is very good about trying my little experiments and there are a lot of people who are watching their food intake right now.

So - Key Lime Cupcakes!
Find the posting here: http://cheatdaycafe.blogspot.com/2009/03/cupcake-controversy.html

The ingredients are so simple!
1 box of cake mix
2 egg whites
10 oz. liquid from either diet soda or unset jello

For my Key Lime Cupcakes I used lime sugar-free jello and the juice of 2 key limes. They looked so pretty! For the frosting, I whipped together powdered sugar, milk, and green food coloring. JI made it thin enough to let me just dip the tops in the frosting.

Super easy - and pretty tasty!

I guess I took some pictures in the dark - sorry!