Fall is here, and after the heat of this summer I think we’re all breathing a collective sigh of relief! Autumn means school’s back in session. It’s a good time to start new family activities, and a good time to bolster the immune systems of your children. Why not do both at the same time?

New research on sprouts adds to what we already know: they’re good for us. They fall into that ambiguous ‘healthy stuff’ group that kids often avoid without tasting, but you can fix that. They’re certainly worth the effort. Their health effects range from heart health to anti-cancer agents; they’re a good, low-cal snack, adding flavor and zest to a variety of dishes. And you can grow them yourself.

Growing sprouts is easy. It’s also fun to do as a family. Instead of using jars, like we did when we were kids, the most effective way to grow is in a hemp sprouting bag. They’re inexpensive and available all over the web. One will run you about $15, but it will last a long time. Jars take up space and require more time, break and limit the amount of air sprouts get while growing. Bags have none of these problems. Simply dip them in water and hang it to drain, saving kitchen counter space and time.

Pick your seeds carefully. Any vegetable, grain or nut seed will grow sprouts, but different seeds require more or less time (bean sprouts grow in a few hours, macadamia nuts need 60 days) and each has a distinctive taste. Some will maintain their nutrients when cooked and others need to be eaten raw. (See the link below for more information).

Do a little homework of your own and turn this into a cool science experiment for the kids. Chart how long different seeds take to sprout and then grow to harvest, or graph how hot or sweet a sprout is (radish are ‘hot’ by sprout standards and sunflower sprouts are sweet) or size of seed/bean/nut to growth time to see if there’s a correlation.

Once your sprouts are all grown up, it’ll be time for the family to hit the kitchen to some tasting. Recipes for sprouts abound. Use them in sandwiches, soups, quesadillas, pureed and used in paté … the possibilities are almost endless.

Make the kids an important part in growing, harvesting and preparation. Because the ‘farming’ is simple, you might give each child a sprouting bag as their own little farm. Help them get it going and remind them to dunk and drain the bag daily and help with harvesting. Pick recipes that are age-appropriate and let your grower make a dish for dinner using their plants as an ingredient. Alex and Soph get a kick out of feeding the family, from seed to serving, and we’re betting your kids will too.

References:
- How to Grow Sprouts
- What to Grow and How to Eat It
- E-Coli and Sprouts
- Nutrition Info. Fact Chart
- A List of Available Downloads

Happy Family Cooking (and Gardening) Everyone,

Alex, Soph and Kelly

P.S. Check us out on Facebook and give us a ‘Like’ then we can come and say ‘hi’ to you over there too!

In our last episode, ‘Two Kids Cooking: Roll Out Sugar Cookies,’ we had fun learning about baking while we baked cookies. This week, we’re learning about Broiling. We’re also having some tasty fun broiling up some BBQ Chicken!

We also want to draw some attention to the sauce we’re using on our chicken. It’s Loretta’s Best Gourmet BBQ Sauce and it’s delicious. We met the owner, Michael Blow, at 2010 Forest Lake Area Craft Show. We tasted both the BBQ sauce and the mustard sauce and hey were both really good. Michael was generous enough to provide us with a jar of sauce for your show, but we’ll be heading over to the Loretta’s Best website for more (and some of that mustard sauce, mmm…….). Make sure to check it out for yourself.

Enjoy the show and Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Kelly

P.S. Head on over to Facebook and give us a ‘like.’ The mom (that’s me) is going to be focusing on keeping in touch over there, so go like us!

Halloween is around the corner, along with ghosts, ghouls and, of course, jack-o-lanterns. Those pumpkin faces, whether smiling or snarling, are so traditional that it’s hard to imagine the night of tricking and treating without them. And, while carving them is great fun for the family, they do present a problem – what to do with the goo?

I guess everyone out there has roasted, toasted or baked pumpkin seeds. Every October, families gather around the table, pulling seeds from strings and pop soon-to-be snack into the oven. But just in case you’ve never tackled the inside of the pumpkin, here are a couple of tips and tricks to get your treats just right and get the whole family in the kitchen having fun.

First, don’t wash the seeds. That only serves to wash away good pumpkin flavor. Have the kids separate them from the goo the best they can and place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes. Greasing the sheet will make them crunchy; leaving it ungreased will make them less so.

While they’re good just toasted and plain, there are variations. Here are a few to get you started:

• Bake for 15 minutes, pour melted butter over the top (just a bit), finish baking, salt and eat.
• Bake about 2 cups of seeds and mix them with ½ cup melted butter. Once they’re all moistened, add ¼ – 1 teaspoon chili powder (according to taste), ½ cup brown sugar and a dash or two of cinnamon. Bake them again for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the coating seems to be done. They’re great! We call them ‘Deviled Jacks’ (for jack-o-lantern), and love to spin the seeds around in our mouths until the flavor is gone, then crack and eat the meat.
• Flavor seeds with cumin, garlic or onion powder, pumpkin pie spices (yum!) or nutmeg.

If you don’t want to eat pumpkin seeds, there is something else to do with them from the kitchen–make holiday soap. For a great craft idea, check out Halloween Crafts: Pumpkin Seed Gift Soap

Pumpkin Melamine Cereal
Bowl Set of 6 – 6″

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The seeds were the easy part–now, on to the goo. Hmm … the goo ….
after you scoop the goo out of the pumpkin, and salvage the seeds (or store them in a zip-loc baggie in the refrigerator for up to 2 months), consider using the pumpkin for baking. yes, it’s easier to run to the store and grab a can of pumpkin pie filling. no, it’s not as good. plus, it’s fun to show the kids where the stuff in the can actually comes from.

use can use your fresh pumpkin in any pumpkin recipe. one ofour favorites is pumpkin bread, partially because it’s easy to make with the kids, but mostly because it’s delicious. to make our pumpkin bread extra tasty, we add chocolate chips and pecans before baking it and then drizzle it with chocolate syrup and serve hot with a dollop of whipped cream. there’s just something about that combination that feels right in the fall.

now, the goo–well, the truth is, there’s nothing cooking-wise to do with the goo. i’ve seen it used as something sick coming out of a ghoulish jack-o-lantern’s mouth and i’ve heard of having wars with the nasty innards_4 we usually just pitched ours into the trash. although, a family pumpkin goo war might be fun…. _4d

happy family cooking everyone,

alex, sophia and kelly

p.s. have you ;”>yet? If not, why not do it right now?

‘They’ refers to kids….my kids that is—actually, mostly just Alex. Sophie has her oddities too, including an obsession sugar and aversion to tomato sauce; but at least she intakes a good balance of fruits, veggies and protein along with the not-so-healthy. It’s not that Alex doesn’t eat healthy food, it’s just that he doesn’t have a good balance of foods, in this mom’s opinion, anyway.  He’d live on meat and berries if I let him—he’s like a bear I guess.

I know I’m not alone. There are others out there with family members of all ages who are what some would call ‘picky’, but the fact is I just don’t understand it. I am a lover of all food. When I fight with my kids about trying new foods, it’s only partially because of the obvious ‘Mom’ reasons; I honestly feel bad for them because of the deliciousness they would be missing if they didn’t try it.

Because of my love of all kinds of food, I, as a parent, do insist my kids try new foods. I don’t force them, but I strongly recommend to the point of occasional bribery. I do this because of the long term gains for them. As we grow from childhood to adulthood, our body chemistry changes, and so do our tastes. If a person doesn’t like broccoli at five, but tries it from time-to-time as they grow-up, they might find they like it when they’re a bit older.

Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself that my son will someday eat more than just four types of vegetables—broccoli, squash, beets and corn–without me insisting.  I know it’s great that he likes those four, and maybe I should just include more of them in our menus instead of worrying so much about variety. After all, he does eat other veggies, but quickly and without enjoyment. I remember though, when he was a baby, he loved peas and asparagus, as well as green beans and potatoes–I hope that someday, he grows back into them.

That’s all I’m thinking for now…Happy Family Cooking,

Kelly

P.S. To see how frequently I honestly think about getting my kids more variety in their eating habits, here are a few other posts on the topic: Getting Kids to Try New Foods: 5 Things that May Work, Kids, Eating and Life, Food Bribery–Would You Pay Your Kids to Try a Food?

Sometimes, Alex and Soph can be a bit picky about the food they eat. Ok, maybe it’s a bit more than sometimes, I admit. BUT, because of that, one thing I do to encourage them to broaden their taste bud horizons is to try new things. With this process comes picking out and preparing new recipes.

Every other Sunday, the kids return home after their week at their Dad’s house. This is when we prepare for our week together, reviewing activities, finishing homework and planning what we’re going to eat for dinner each night. After trying to put together a few basic meal ideas for the week and having the kids respond with less than enthusiastic comments, I know it’s time to pull out the cookbooks and get them to help. I usually hand over a couple of our go-to cookbooks and a few of the newest issues of various cooking magazines I have on hand and have them start looking.

The beginning results of this process inevitably lead to dessert item after dessert item being flagged for us to make. However, with some persistent reminders of our goal to find dinner items, we eventually come up with at least a couple of respectable choices. Once we decided on our ‘try it’ recipes, we finalize our shopping list and head to the store for groceries.

When the assigned day for one of our agreed upon ‘try-it’ recipes arrives, we’re always excited about it. As soon as we get home from school and work, we dig out the recipe, all the necessary ingredients and tool and get to work. We all do our part cleaning, cutting, stirring and flipping as necessary—oh and tasting too, of course. Sophia usually makes the event into a party, as well, by fancying up the table and making sure we eat by candlelight (as all families should on occasion ;D).

When we plan a ‘try-it’ meal it’s like a family date night. It belongs to all of us and it’s lots of fun, even when the recipe isn’t so tasty or if we mess it up. As we eat, we discuss how great of cooks we are or what we’ll do different next time—or we laugh as we eat tuna sandwiches because the recipe was a disaster.

Get your kids to pick a recipe or two they’d like to try and then plan the night. I assure you you’ll have a great evening together as a family.

Happy Cooking Everyone,

Alex, Sophia and Kelly (Mom)

P.S. Our One Year Anniversary gift to our list subscribers will be coming out soon (this weekend if all works out) so make sure to sign up now so you don’t miss it!

This week on Two Kids Cooking TV we get into some baking. Now, there are lots of things you can bake, like chicken, fish, potatoes, lasagna, etc… BUT, a favorite baking delight of most everyone is COOKIES! And that’s what we’re sharing this week.

The recipe we’re using is from the back of the box of our favorite custom-made-for-kids-cooking-tool-making-company, Curious Chef. As you’ll see, the recipe is easy to make with the kids, plus, rolling-out, cutting and decorating cookies is always a fun way to spend some time in the kitchen as a family.

Enjoy the show and Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. We’ll be sharing my review of the Curious Chef 6 pc Cookie kit that we are using in this episode, so make sure you’re following us on Facebook or Twitter !

One sure way to get the kids in the kitchen, at least at our house, is to say the word ‘experiment’. We’ve done all of the traditional kitchen experimentation—baking soda and vinegar, sugar crystals, an egg in vinegar, etc.—Recently, though, I’ve been trying to make edible food items more science-y by presenting them as more of an experiment.

Some foods and recipes work better for this than others. For example, in our episode of 2 Kids Cooking TV, ‘Making Mozzerella, the kids and I had fun making delicious cheese while learning about separating milk into its various parts.

Some other real food that would work well in the edible food experiment arena include:
• Making mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce (Emulsions)
• Making Ice Cream in a Bag (Freezing Point Depression and Colligative Properties)
• Meringues and Soufflés (The Power of Egg Whites)
• Cottage Cheese and Ricotta (Catalysts and Coagulation)

There are some other ideas at ‘The Accidental Scientist: The Science of Cooking’ website that we like as well. They have experiments involving bread, pickles, candy, eggs, spices and meat. Each section includes recipes, explanations and activities.

We hope one or more of these ideas draw you and your kids into the kitchen to have some edible science fun. As Alex, Sophia and I work our way through these experiments, we’ll be sure to record each one and share via the show, of course

Have fun cooking together!

Alex, Sophia and Mom

P.S. If you have any ideas for edible experiments you’ve done, let us know by posting a comment below or by sharing over on our fan page wall at Facebook!

For some of you, school may have already started, but for Alex and Soph, September 7 is the big day. Alex will be starting 6th grade and his last year in elementary school, while Soph will be moving up to 2nd grade. For me though, it’s not just about heading back to the classroom, it’s about getting back into the groove of things.

We love summer as much as any family—unstructured time is awesome—but fall means it’s time to get back to business. With work for Mom, homework for the kids and the inevitable after school activities we’re going to be super busy. Taking time to plan our meals is a must for me. Making sure we get healthy, balanced meals is part of it, but the planning also means that instead of rambling around the kitchen trying to figure out what we can eat, the kids and I can cook the meal together. We don’t make every meal together, but, with planning, at least once a week, we spend some quality time in the kitchen.

PLUS, we’re coming up on the One Year Anniversary of the show (Sept 12), so it’s a good thing we’re getting focused. You may have seen the first show of Season Two: ’45 Pounds Pork Chops’ last week, and we’ve got more in queue. We are going to be moving to an every-other-week schedule so we keep our sanity, but, so you don’t miss us ;D, we’re introducing a new weekly blog series we call ‘Kids In the Kitchen,’ featuring ideas any family can use to spend some quality time together cooking, eating and even cleaning up in the kitchen. And, on the opposite weeks of the show, I’ll continue sharing my ‘Thoughts from the Mom.’

We hope your ‘Back to School’ goes smoothly and gets everyone in your family back into the groove too!
Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. If you’re interested, check out our premiere episode, 2 Kids Cooking TV: Berry Dippers

photo courtesy of http://lifeasmom.com

When school starts, the leisurely, time-filled days of summer, well they just disappear. Calendars fill up with various activities and finding quality time to spend together as a family can be on the challenging side. But, the thing is, I love spending time with my kids, so I try to make sure we schedule in some time we can do something together each week they’re with me. Game night is pretty easy and whipping up a snacky supper is easy to do with the kids before the games begin.

The activities we plan usually involve food element (big surprise, I know ), even if just snacks to accompany a night of monopoly or maybe the pet shop game. On any given week, here are the steps this mom will follow to accomplish my goals of having some fun with my kiddies and getting them actively involved in food selection and planning:

1. Pick a day of the Week. Since I only have the kids every other week, I like to pick a day Wednesday or later, but whatever day is the most open for your family is what you should pick.
2. Select the Game(s). Make sure to choose the game or games well in advance, that way all participants have time to get on board. Lack of planning can cause some minor disturbances that can easily be avoided if all children involved agree on the game(s) that will be played.
3. Choose the Menu. Let everyone pick a menu item. Game night dinners for us can involve pizza, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, soup…we each pick something and a theme usually emerges. The menu should be more snack-like in nature, easy to eat while playing. And something that the kids can easily help prepare. The bonding time of game night can and will begin well before the first roll of the dice if everyone works together to prep the food.
4. Pump Up The Event. Since we usually plan our events later in the week, once we have everything set, I bring it up in the evening or before bed, like a count-down to the day. If we have errands to run that involve the game night—like picking up food items, or maybe even a new game—we talk about the plans in the morning on the way to school.

By the day of the planned Game Night, the kids are psyched and as soon as we get in the door from school the afternoon the preparations begin. We work like well-oiled machine, preparing our menu and setting up for the festivities. Once all is ready, we eat, play and be merry for an evening of family, food and fun.

Grab your kids right now and plan a Family Game Night with a Snacky Supper. You will have lots of fun with your kids in the kitchen and enjoying some of that ‘quality-time’ we parents are always longing for.

Happy Family Cooking!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. We’ll be sharing ideas for getting your ‘Kids in the Kitchen’ each week. To make sure you don’t miss one, sign up for our mailing list and we’ll make sure you get the weekly update.