Last week we shared our thoughts on some of ZisBoomBah.com’s games.  Well, the site is more than just games. I has a Parent dashboard that lets you interact with your kids through their ‘Goals’ area. Since we parents must approve our children’s accounts with ZisBoomBah.com, we have the opportunity to have our own parent account that attaches to our kid’s accounts. This means that through the site you can assign daily, weekly and/or monthly challenge goals to each of your registered children. Once they’ve completed a goal, they get a reward that you set. The also receive points from Zis Boom Bah that they can use for various things on the site.

I have only one goal for Alex and Sophia right now–eating a minimum of 4 fruits and veggies a day for each week they are at my house. If they do, they get $5 at the end of the week. My challenge to them is food related, however, the goals can be related to any area you’d like to emphasize with your kids–homework, chores, reading, outdoor time, whatever you decide.

The reason I think it’s so cool is because the kids go in and visually track their status. It feels more like a goal instead of an rule because it’s not just a ‘mom-made’ chart on the fridge, it’s on a real website. Having the goal in writing also encourages us to talk about it regularly. For us that means every day after school I get a rundown on fruit and veggie consumption so we know where we’re at for the day before we eat dinner. It’s been fun watching them take an active roll in planning when and how they will get in their fruits and veggies instead of me just setting a rule.

Now Challenges and Games are not the only reasons to check out ZisBoomBah.com. There is lots of fun and information out there for both kids and parents. We hope you check it out and if you do, please let us know your thoughts.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Kelly, Alex and Sophia

P.S. Stop by Zis Boom Bah and check out Alex and Soph’s Chef Page!

Today we are lucky enough to bring you Amy Rosekelley from SuperHealthyKids.com. Amy is one of our favorite food bloggers, always providing great information, tips and recipes for raising healthier kids. She is also the creator of the Super Healthy Kids Plate, which allows parents to visually reinforce food portions and types in a kid-friendly way (Sophia loves her plate ).

Read on to learn more about Amy and how she’s raising Super Healthy Kids…

1. What prompted you to bring your healthy eating message to the web?

I went online to share my message about healthy eating because my sister and best friend is a complete computer geek. LOL. She talked me into starting a blog almost 5 years ago as a means to promote my healthy kids plates, and the blog completely consumed me and became more exciting to me than selling plates.  So, while I’ve maintained both (selling plates, and blogging about recipes) I actually prefer blogging!

2. You’ve indicated that your kids have been  picky eaters, but now they try most things. How do you encourage kids to venture out, & try new foods without presetting expectations? (Alex & Soph will try anything, but many times, Soph has decided she doesn’t like it, even before the spoon hits the mouth.)

My kids were super picky before I started blogging.  Now they will at least taste almost anything I make.  I once read that a child who is offered a variety of foods to eat over time, will be less picky. In other words, not just offering spinach 12 times in hopes that they’ll someday enjoy spinach, but also offering Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, lettuce, and all other vegetables.  This variety will expand their tastes and lead them to be more adventurous and accepting.  Beyond that, I truly believe parents are short sighted in this effort, or they give up too quickly. Kids tastes and attitudes change frequently, and it’s important to not get upset about it, but just to keep pressing forward.

3. Do you have any tips for encouraging kids to make healthy food choices outside the home—when we (the parents) aren’t controlling the food they eat?

Yikes! That is a tough question.  I feel that if you teach kids properly, when you aren’t looking over their shoulder, they’ll choose healthy food on their own.  The most important lesson here is to help kids understand how they feel when they eat healthy food.  They have more energy, they can think better, they’ll grow bigger and stronger, etc.  My poor 8  year old is super short for his age.  He eats healthy because he really feels like it will give him the most advantage to getting stronger and smarter.  Even though he understands he may never be the tall kids, he knows he can be the fastest or the strongest.  This is enough to keep him on the right track!

4. One of our biggest challenges is getting healthy food when we’re super busy – when both the kids have activities and commitments. What do you recommend for on-the-go families when it comes to avoiding unhealthy foods (i.e. how not to stop at McDonalds for dinner)?

Eating healthy in a hurry can be just as quick as stopping through the drive through.  Our busy nights, we make sandwich, or we throw a bag of frozen veggies into a pot of boiling pasta, and then shake parmesan and butter on top when it’s done.   We do this a lot!  When you are at home and busy, as long as there is healthy food available to prepare, rather than junk food, it won’t be a hard choice.

5. Do your kids cook with you ever? Or for themselves? If so, what are your/their favorite things to make?

My kids love to cook! They are carboholics, so you will find them making bread, pancakes, waffles, toast, and cookies- usually several times a week!

About Amy Rosekelley:

Amy is founder of SuperHealthyKids.com, is a mom of three and and graduated from Brigham Young University’s Health Promotion program. As a counselor with Utah’s Department of Health for ten years, she advised state employees on healthy lifestyles. SuperHealthyKids.com won the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Blog of the Month in January 2011. She lives in Lehi, UT with her family.

The kids are with me every other week. Most weeks, we try to cook at least one meal together if our schedule allows. If we’re taping a show, the menu is preselected by the topic, BUT, other times, we get to decide what we’re going to make during our time together.

Sometimes these family time cooking recipes come from one of the kid’s cravings, sometimes they come from our list of ‘must-try’ recipes and sometimes they come from a recipe book or magazine. Here are three simple ways to get your kids involved in recipe and menu selection:

1. Ask them what they’re in the mood to eat/cook that week. On the weeks the kids will be with me, I try to do a menu plan for the week. I say ‘try’ because some weeks I am better at this than others. BUT, even on the weeks when we don’t have a formal menu plan, I ask the kids for ideas on what we should eat that week, and if there’s anything in particular they’d like to make.  In addition to helping me come up with dinner ideas, it gets them excited for the meals we’ll be cooking and eating together.

2. Go through some recipe books or magazines. If you want to do something special or new, and you and the kids are strapped for ideas, we find that paging through our recipe books and cooking magazines always generates ideas. You can find some of our favorite Kids Cooking Books right here on the site. Some of our favorite magazines include: FamilyFun, ChopChop, Taste of Home, All You, and Fitness.  Fitness might seem a bit odd, but they have lots of healthy, tasty recipes in there.

3. Keep a list of those ‘must-try’ recipes. Whenever I’m reading a blog, magazine or cookbook and a recipe strikes me, I make a note of it. I have a folder in outlook called ‘recipes to try’…I just email myself links to the recipes I find online. If they’re in a book or magazine that I own, I make a note and email it to myself with the magazine title, issue, page and recipe.  Back before I was technologically inclined, I used to just clip out the recipes from a magazine, glue them to another sheet of paper, three-how punch it and stick it in a binder…I still have that ‘recipe book’. Sophia does the same thing and usually writes up an ingredients list to be sure we’ll have everything on hand–if she finds something she wants to make, we usually try it right away. Alex is less aggressive with the recipe searching than Soph, but he does call my attention to particular things he finds from time to time. Sophia’s finds are usually desserts, Alex’s are usually meat related–big surprise

Next time you have no idea what to make for supper, get the kids involved…I’m sure they’ll have plenty opinions on what to make.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone,

Kelly, Alex and Sophia

Some of you may know that in addition do the online show, we do a monthly, longer-format version of Two Kids Cooking on our local Public Access Station (Suburban Community Channels-15). We were recently interviewed on their Access SCC program so we thought we’d share. Here’s the full show, we’re one of the first segments.

It was a bit weird being interviewed, but the kids did a great job and my ‘Ums’ aren’t too bad…let us know what you think!

Every parent knows that life with kids is always busy. Be it a birthday party or a dance class or a baseball game, there is an unending supply of activities that need to be attended. Parents also know that kids grow up fast…the time really does fly. That is the reason why I enjoy the time the kids and I spend cooking together. I cherish every moment I can squeeze in with those kiddies.

Plus, everyone has to eat. That means, if the family cooks together, they get to spend some quality family time together AND they get to eat!

Incorporating family time into the cooking process without adding stress can be more simple than you might think. There are three three simple tips I always follow when the 2 Kids and I are in the kitchen:

1) Choose a day and a menu together
Pick out a day of the week that works best for everyone. Alex, Soph and I cook together a lot, but there are days that we prefer, like Mondays or Fridays, when we get home from school earlier. Whatever day will allow the most relaxing, non-rushed experience is the best to pick.

Choosing the menu should also be a group decision. If everyone in the family actually likes the menu, or at least parts of it, the whole experience will be much more enjoyable.

2) Go over the game plan before starting
Just like with any group event, when everyone on the team knows what the goal is, the whole process goes much more smoothly. Every time the kids I make a recipe, we run through what we’re going to be doing first. Then, once we’ve all got the same picture in our heads, we divide tasks and work our way through each step. By choosing tasks in advance, we also prevent arguments over who will do what while we’re in the middle of making the meal–and we all know that’s a good thing

3) Plan for fun, not perfection
If you’re looking for everything to go perfectly smoothly…well it won’t. Even with the amount of time Alex, Sophia and I spend in the kitchen, we still end up with extra salt in the marinade, or half an egg in the bowl, or a tipped-over bottle of lemon juice, or–I think you get the picture. The thing is, it’s these little imperfections that make the whole experience fun. Plus, the memories you make will be priceless.

Yes, life is busy, but we all know that kids grow up fast. Family time is precious and cooking together is one way to get some of that time back.

Now go, get those kids and cook something together!

Happy Family Cooking Everyone,

Kelly, Alex and Mom

It’s official, I am the mom of a teenager.  Luckily, the best teenager in the world   I know every parent says this, but I seriously do not believe that the cute little blob we brought home from the hospital is already a 13 year old mini-man.  I really hit me the other day when I was watching a Christmas episode of ours from a couple years back…his squeaky little voice and chubby cheeks.  We’ve only been doing the show for 2 1/2 years, but wow, has he grown.

I am so thankful to have such a wonderful son. He and I have a lot in common and now that he’s at an age where he can carry on a real conversation, I love talking with him. He is awesome at helping out with the show, too. If I ever put together a ‘gag-reel’ you’ll see what I mean. Soph can be a bit of a diva from time to time but Alex keeps it all calm. His big brother skills are quite well developed, as well and I know his sister would agree. For being 4+ years apart they are really close and have lots of fun together. Yes, they do fight, but overall they work well together.

This morning Soph and I sang him Happy Birthday and made him breakfast in bed, later we’re going to make him some Bread Pudding, cuz he loves it more than cake–Happy 13th Birthday Alex! We love you…

Mom & Soph

Eggs are a pretty standard breakfast food, but, our Baked Eggs add a new twist. Plus, they are one of those things that can be customized to individual tastes, so no one can say they don’t like it (well, unless they don’t like eggs I guess, but you know what I mean ).  Alex, Soph and I demonstrate how quick it is to have a fancy egg breakfast after a crazy gift opening morning.

If you are interested in trying the recipe out for yourself, you can find it here: Baked Eggs.

Enjoy the show and We hope you all have a great Holiday–Merry Christmas!

Kelly, Alex and Sophia

P.S. This is our final episode of 2011, our next new shows will be out in February 2012–make sure you’re on our email list so you don’t miss it!

This week Alex and Soph share our super easy and tasty Two Kids Pancakes and Addin-In ideas. Both of them are big pancake fans and when you make the batter the night before, pancakes are super fast to make, especially if you are busy, say, opening presents ;D

We have the recipe posted here, too, if you feel like whipping up some yourself: Two Kids Pancakes.

Happy Holidays and Enjoy the show!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

P.S. What’s your favorite Christmas morning breakfast?  Let us know with a comment!