For this weeks episode of Two Kids Cooking TV, the kiddies and I share one our favorite game day snacks. For us, ‘game day’ usually means video and board games, but these chicken wings are great for devouring with friends while cheering on your favorite team, too.

Although the separating of the wings into their multiple parts is better left to parents or older kids, younger chefs can help out with this recipe, too. Seasoning the chicken before it heads into the broiler, and preparing the sauces are tasks that most ages can help with, and helping get any sides ready is an essential part of the presentation–we recommend celery, carrots, blue cheese and ranch dressing.

Enjoy the show and happy family cooking everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

P.S.

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Burgers are awesome. Alex, Soph and I are burger people…well mostly Alex and me, but Soph does eat burgers most of the time. We like Hamburgers, Turkey Burgers and our featured burger of this week, Tuna Burgers. Not only are they high in protein and low in fat, they’re a great meal to make as a family…throw the ingredients into a bowl, squish together (kids love squishing things!)…form patties, fry ‘em up and all you’ve got left is to eat!

We hope you enjoy this re-share of our Tuna Burger episode for ‘The Kids Cook Monday.’

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

P.S. Please check us out on iTunes and give us a review (click on the ‘view in iTunes’ button, and scroll to the bottom). It’ll help us rank higher and get our show out to more families and kids who like to cook…Thank you!

Being from Minnesota and people who regularly attend our State Fair, food-on-a-stick is not an unusual thing for Alex, Soph and me. BUT, most of the stick-food we see isn’t quite so healthy as our Fruit-on-a-Stick a.k.a. Fruit Kabobs. In this episode that we originally shared last year, Alex and Sophia show the simplicity involved in making a healthy snack-on-a-stick.

Enjoy the show and Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Mom

P.S. Please check us out on iTunes and give us a review (click on the ‘view in iTunes’ button, and scroll to the bottom). It’ll help us rank higher and get our show out to more families and kids who like to cook…Thank you!

Eating different things, or even the same thing, but prepared different ways. This is something that I, as an adult, enjoy. This is also something that my children, for some reason, do not enjoy. I know that I could just make the foods I want, the way I want and if the kids won’t eat them, too bad. But, I’m not that sort of mom. I want them to ‘want’ to at least ‘try’ the food; I worry that they’re not eating…I know they’ll just sneak junk food when I’m occupied doing other things. I realize that they will not starve to death and that I could just eliminate all junk food from the house to stop them from sneaking it. I also know that I can’t make them want to do anything. The thing is, I just don’t understand it. I’ve always liked food of all kinds, even as a child. My parents never had to provide extra encouragement or bribe me in any way to get me to taste anything (except oysters, eewww).

So, where does that leave me as a peace-loving parent longing for variety? Well, there are a few things I’ve tried–sometimes with success, sometimes not. These strategies have at least allowed me to address my desire for variety in my meals while still ensuring my kiddies get a healthy dinner.

They are:

1) Discuss potential new recipes or foods with the kids before making them.
Whenever I find a recipe I’d like to try, one that I’m pretty sure either Alex or Soph, or if I’m lucky, both of them will like, I show it to them. Sometimes they ignore me. Sometimes they make faces at me. Sometimes they say, ‘Hmmm, that might be good.’ Either way, once I’ve brought it up, I continue to mention it, even showing them pictures if they’re available. What this mainly does is prevent surprises. When the meal shows up on the table, they expect it and are usually pretty willing to taste it, even if they made faces at the original proposal.

2) Have them help prepare these new foods or recipes
This is a commonly mentioned strategy used to get kids to eat things they might not otherwise like. It does not always work–sometimes Alex and Soph help cook something and then proudly announce that they made it for me and would rather not try it. However, when combined with strategy #1, success rates for at least getting them to try the food are drastically improved.

3) Make trying new things a standard part of your monthly or weekly meals.
Like building exercise into your daily routine, trying new recipes and foods can become a standard part of the family meal experience. But, routines require consistency to become routines, so if you start having ‘New Food Friday’ at your house, it’s best to stick with it, or commit to a schedule so everyone knows when the new stuff will be making an appearance. The kiddies might actually start looking forward to it

4) When preparing a new food or recipe, make side dishes you know that they’ll eat…maybe even make an extra or two.
If you’re a worrier like me, you’ll want to ensure that there will be something the kids will eat, even if they refuse to eat the main dish or new food item. The best way to do this is to include some tried and true side dishes. Although Alex and Soph have a long way to go before they’ll starve to death, as their Mom I just feel irresponsible if I don’t get something nutritious in them at meal time and I always know that they’ll at least eat the corn and biscuits if they don’t like the new chicken recipe

5) Try new recipes when there are a few left-overs in the fridge–particularly recipes the minis like.
If the new recipe you’re trying is really sort of a one-pot thing, or, if you don’t have time to ensure that the side dishes are to the liking of the minis, just plan the new recipe night to coincide with a day you know there will be plenty of left-overs in the fridge. This is a big one for me because usually, even if one of my children likes the new dish, the other does not. And, the one that does not somehow, more than likely also does not prefer any additional side dishes I may have prepared. And, since my children both have basic cooking skills, when they complain about the food, they are pointed to the fridge and told what they can reheat and eat. I might be a push-over, peace-loving mother, but when I’m eating, I’m eating…if they don’t like the food that I make, they can reheat previously made food on their own (yeah, I’m super tough, I know).

So there you have it. Five strategies to help you meet your adult, variety loving food needs, while still providing for the nutrition of your taste-averse children. I think though, that by continually encouraging my kids while still providing alternatives that someday, their taste horizons will expand…

Happy family cooking everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

‘Mom, can we get more beef jerky?’ , ‘Mom, I want fruit roll-ups, can we get some?’

I hear one or both of these questions nearly every time the kids an I hit the grocery store. I don’t mind buying these items, but, they are something we can make…and, since we can, why not? Plus, when we make our own jerky and roll-ups, we know exactly what’s in them.

Alex is a self proclaimed ‘meatatarian’ and loves beef jerky, so, that is what we usually make when we’re in a dehydrating mood. Fruits, vegetables & herbs, are all great foods to dehydrate for later use, too, though. No matter what food item you choose to remove the moisture from, they’re all easy and fun to do with the kiddies.

Meat
When dehydrating meats, there is usually a marinade of sorts involved. The kids can get involved mixing the marinade and–depending on their age and skill with a knife–slicing the meat up into jerky size pieces.

When the meat has completed its time soaking, get the kids to help you lay the pieces in the dehydrator, or on the baking sheet. After the dehydration is complete, make sure to have the minis help so they can see the change in the meat, and taste it, of course! ;D

If you’re looking for some recipes or tips for making your own jerky, here are a few we’ve referred to:
- www.backpackingchef.com
- www.cooks.com

Fruit
We haven’t dried an fruit recently, mostly because we’ve been focused on fulfilling Alex’s meat requirements ;D Fruit can be dehydrated in two ways, as pieces of the whole fruit, or as fruit leather. In both cases, children can help with the preparation, cutting up the fruits and/or preparing the puree, and arranging the prepared fruits onto the dehydrator trays or baking sheets.

Check out these websites for more information on drying fruit:
- www.eHow.com
- www.grouprecipes.com
- www.simplyrecipes.com

Vegetables
Like with fruits, the kids can get involved in the preparation of the veggies for their visit to the dehydrator. I’ve only ever done onions and peppers before, but we’re going to try some other vegetables soon, ,to include in as an ingredient in future ‘Gift in a Jar’ recipes.

This website has some great tips or dehydrating veggies:
- www.backpackingchef.com
- farmgal.tripod.com

Herbs
We’ve never actually tried drying herbs ourselves. We grow them each summer, and try to keep the plants alive indoors over the Minnesota winter (with little success), but we tend to just use the fresh herbs in a fresh state. I have a cupboard full of dried herbs, but I think next summer, when we have a ton basil, we might attempt drying it ourselves. In the meantime, here’s an article we’ll be using as our reference:
- How to Dry Herbs

So, the next time one of your kiddies asks for fruit roll-ups, you might want to suggest you buy some ingredients to make your own instead! It’s a fun way to get the kids in the kitchen.

Happy family cooking everyone!

Alex, Soph and Kelly

P.S. If you want to see just how easy dehydrating can be, you can watch Alex, Soph and their friend Carter in our Beef Jerky episode of Two Kids Cooking TV.

For this week's 'The Kids Cook Monday,' we're re-sharing our Beef Jerky episode to demonstrate just how easy it is to whip up a batch of your own. We use our dehydrator to make ours, but you could easily make the jerky in your oven on a low temp. The recipe we followed is from Cooks.com.

Enjoy the show and happy family cooking everyone!

Alex, Soph and Kelly

P.S. Did you know that every episode 2 Kids Cooking TV is available in iTunes? Please check us out there and give us a review (click on the ‘view in iTunes’ button, and scroll to the bottom). Thank You!

One of the easiest ways to get the kids in the kitchen together to have some fun is family baking time.
Curious Chef 8-pc. Gift Event Kits Cookie Kit can help facilitate this activity and today, Alex, Soph and I share our first hand thoughts on the kit.

When you open the box for this set you’ll find two cookie cutters, ours were a butterfly and a bear. There’s also a non-stick rolling pin, a cookie turner, a silicone mixing spoon and a whisk. Plus, as in most of their kits, there’s a bonus sticker set and shopping menu. When we tested it out, we used the recipe on back of box, which isn’t bad, so you might want to write that one down too, before recycling it.

In addition to helping liven-up a Saturday family baking afternoon, this kit is perfect play-date activity for your petite chef & their guest. Sophie always wants to bake something when friends are coming over, and having the custom, kid-sized tools for the job makes everyone feel special.

The tools included in the kit are great for kids as young as 3, although even a younger child with a knack for stirring would have fun with the spoon and whisk! The non-stick rolling pin is one of my personal favorites, not just for it’s non-stick feature, but because I can just throw them in the dishwasher after use. We actually have two of them–one for Alex and one for Soph.

I’ll have to say, with the exception of the cookie cutters, we use pretty much every one of the tools included in this kit on a regular basis. The rolling pin is good for fresh pasta and pizza dough–play dough too! We use the whisk for beating eggs or mixing dry ingredients and the spoon is almost like a spoon-spatula, great for scraping every last bit out of a container. We even use the cookie turner for flipping tuna burgers and fried eggs. Honestly, the least used item in the kit is the cookie cutters, but when we make cookies, they work perfectly–nice and large so the dough doesn’t stick in them. To see this kit in action, you can check out our Rollout Sugar Cookie episode of 2 Kids Cooking TV (also included above).

If seeing the Cookie Kit working its magic in the hands of my little chef’s inspires you, you can get your little chef his or her very own, you can get a
Curious Chef 8-pc. Gift Event Kits Cookie Kit, right here.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Mom

So this year, Alex has decided that school food should not be eaten. I can’t say I blame him 100%…we all know that it is not the tastiest, or the healthiest. I always liked school lunch growing up. I think part of it was because I grew up on home grown veggies and home-cooked food. The preservative-filled, processed food we got at school was an unknown and fun flavor adventure for me. I do happen to be one of those people that does and always has eaten pretty much everything, though.

Anyway, because of this new found disdain for ‘hot lunch’, during our weeks together Alex makes sure that he gets ‘cold lunch’ nearly everyday. After awhile the standard sandwiches get a bit boring though, so lately we’ve been figuring out ways that we can change it up a bit. And, since Alex is a picky eater (picky when it comes raw veggies and the lunch possibilities they provide, anyway), it can be challenging. One idea that has been fairly successful, however, is hot dogs. I realize they are not the epitome of health, but they do contain protein and he likes them. With our method, they don’t remain extremely hot (I guess it depends on the thermos), but Alex likes ‘em just the same, so we’re demonstrating our method for preparing a Hot Dog ‘Cold’ School Lunch.

Enjoy the show and Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. Did you know that every episode 2 Kids Cooking TV is available in iTunes? Please check us out there and give us a review (click on the ‘view in iTunes’ button, and scroll to the bottom). Thank You!

Today for The Kids Cook Monday, we’re re-sharing one of our early, but great episodes–Pickley Tuna Sandwiches. Since we’ve been focused on Cold Lunch Ideas for school, this one is a perfect fit. It’s also one of Alex’s favorites

We know you’ll be inspired to make your own pickely tuna sandwiches after watching Alex’s demonstration!

Happy Family Cooking!

Alex, Soph and Kelly

School has been back is session for half a school year now and, if your kids are like most kids, the lunches they bring from home are starting to get a little boring. Here are some things to do with your child to get them smiling about bringing ‘cold’ school lunches.

‘Baby’ them – let the kiddos go with you to the store. Your objective? To find as many ‘baby’ foods as possible. Now, I’m not talking about baby food, but miniature foods that can go into lunches and get eaten quickly. Look for grape tomatoes, miniature bananas, Clementines or tangerines (little oranges), mini packs of tuna, cheese sticks and anything else that looks kid-sized.

‘Stuff’ it – pita bread makes great sandwich bread for school lunches. You or the kids can stuff it with ham, egg or tuna salad, a vegetable blend or make a kind of grilled cheese-tomato pita. But there are other things you can stuff – the kids can take zucchini or squash and cut it in half, gutt it and stuff it with a blend of ham or sausage, cheese, tomatoes, onion and the original vegetable. Then, have them wrap it in foil and cook until the outer veggie is soft, then refrigerate. They’re great as school lunches because they’re either finger food or fork food.

A ‘chip’ off the old block – let the kids help you make your own chips.

Potato – peel and slice 1/8” thick. Have you child spray a cookie sheet with baking oil, and then spray the tops of potatoes (as you see Soph doing in the picture to your left). Bake 400° for 12-15 minutes. Season immediately. You can use salt, pepper, onion or garlic salt, Parmesan cheese, cinnamon and sugar or whatever your child wants to try.

Sweet Potatoes – Slice very thinly. Spray cookie sheet with oil and place potato slices in single layer, then spray tops with oil. Bake 425° for 25-35 minutes. Season immediately as above.

Zucchini or yellow squash – cut thinly and dip in beaten egg whites, then flour. You can mix the flour with parmesan cheese, onion or garlic powder or anything else the kids think will taste good. Bake in a single layer in a 325° oven for 20 minutes.

If you really get into making your own chips or want to dehydrate your own fruit, consider either buying a dehydrator or making your own (another great project for you and the kids). Alton Brown has a great homemade dehydrator, plus ways to dehydrate your fruit.

‘Play it again’ –Slip a note into the kid’s lunches, or let them help you choose crossword puzzles, word games or color pages off the internet. Remind them that food is first, play is next. If you see they’re not eating enough, discontinue the activities. My kids don’t get much time at lunch, but, in addition to  a sweet treat (like fun size candy bar, or a chocolate covered granola bar), I throw in a not on occasion.

Lunches don’t have to be dull, not even at school. Think about what your kids like to eat at home and at restaurants and try to recreate that flavor for their lunches. It might take some brainstorming, but between you and your child, you can fancy up those cold lunches so they’re not so boring.

Happy Family Cooking!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. Don’t miss next week’s 2 Kids Cooking TV when Alex and Soph share one of our school lunches that they both love!