We originally aired this recipe for Oven-Baked Pork Chops from 45pounds.com back in August of 2010 to kick of Season 2 of Two Kids Cooking TV. We though it would be a great show to re-share for ‘The Kids Cook Monday’.

The Kids Cook Monday is a weekly opportunity for families to take health into their own hands. The Kids Cook Monday provides examples of kid friendly recipes and video demonstrations along with nutrition and safety tips- making it easy for families to cook and eat together every Monday. This year, Alex, Sophia and I will be re-shareing recipe previous episodes every Monday throughout the year. We’ll even throw in a few new episodes here and there specifically planned for The Kids Cook Monday.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

P.S. Next week we’ll have a brand new episode of Two Kids Cooking TV, so make sure and stop back!

We’ve been super busy this holiday season, getting in lots of family fun time. Sooo, this week we’re re-sharing our New Year’s episode from last year. These recipes are perfect for a New Year’s party and kid’s love to make and eat ‘em.

We hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Enjoy the show.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Sophia and Kelly

For our final Halloween episode of 2010, we’re makin’ Brains (aka, spaghetti squash) with Slime Sauce (Basil Pecan Pesto and Brown Sugar/Butter Sauce). Brains are a staple for many of the undead, and since we love us some zombies, we wanted to celebrate our re-alive friends with a vegetarian brain-like alternative.

Enjoy the show everyone, we hope your have a Wonderful Halloween season!

Happy Family Cooking,

Alex, Soph and Kelly

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are finally back with Season II of Two Kids Cooking TV!  We’re kicking off our return by sharing a recipe from 45pounds.com.  45pounds is dedicated to helping overweight children by educating both parents and children about the principles of healthy eating. They have an online cookbook with lots of healthy, tasty recipes. Recently, they held a video contest and we used this recipe as our entry.  Alex loved these pork chops and we’ve made them a couple of times since taping this episode.

Here’s the recipe we used:



If you’re interested in checking out more recipes, meal plans, exercise DVDs and everything else 45pounds provides, check them out: http://www.45pounds.com.

Enjoy the show and Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Alex, Soph and Mom
P.S. To stay in touch with the 2 Kids and Mom, make sure to ‘like’ us on facebook!

If we haven’t mentioned it, this past weekend was not only Sophia’s birthday, it was also the MN Fishing opener for 2010. So, in honor of all of the fisher people out there–including us–this is fish week!

That means that our The Kids Cook Monday is a fish dish, of course. Soooo, we are sharing a recipe we wanted try for Trout. I, the mom, cook lots of fish, but am not experienced in the Trout department. I have always wanted to try it though, so when I found this super easy recipe in ‘Joy of Cooking,’ I knew the kids and I could share it for the show.

The recipe is really easy to make with the kids, plus, Alex and I loved it! Soph wasn’t as enthusiastic, but I think it had more to do with the ‘whole fish’ thing than the taste. Enjoy the show!

Happy Fishing to All our Minnesota Fans!

If you haven’t stopped by Healthy Monday’s, ‘The Kids Cook Monday,’ yet, head on over and check it out. There are several healthy and easy to cook with kids recipes.

Here at the Two Kids house, we’re sharing our Fruit Kabobs for this weeks, ‘The Kids Cook Monday.’ This recipe is easy, delicious and healthy. We hope you enjoy it!

Fruit Kabobs
Fresh Strawberries
Bananas
Apples
Skewers
Chocolate sauce (optional)

Instructions:
Wash your strawberries and remove the stems. Cut each berry in half. Next, remove the peel from the banana and cut into about 1/2 to 1 inch chunks. Prepare the apple by cutting it into wedges and then cutting each wedge in half.

To assemble, place a piece of each fruit onto a skewer. Rotate the fruit–apple, banana, strawberry, etc.–until your skewer us filled. When your skewers are complete, lay them on a plate and drizzle your chocolate sauce over them with a spoon.

Finally, eat them up!

Now go, get in the kitchen and have some fun cooking together!

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. Make sure to stop back this weekend and visit Alex and Soph’s new Online Shop…we’ll be feature a few of our favorite cooking tools from Curious Chef!

Since Thursday, April 22 is Earthy day, we thought we’d share just how we make the trail mix we take with us when we go on adventure walks, or to the swimming pool, or fishing…pretty much any activity where we are enjoying the earth and being active.

Our Earth Day Trail Mix is an easy recipe to make with kids. Lots of measuring, pouring and stirring, ensure everyone will have a job to do, and it’s super fast, so you’ll be munching this tasty treat in no time.

Earth Day Trail Mix
1 cup low-fat honey granola
1 1/2 cup mixed nuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries
2 good handfuls of pretzels

Instructions
Measure out each ingredient, pouring it into a large bowl. Stir it all together. Next, snack away!

Happy Earth Day week everyone! If you’re out there, enjoying good ole Mother Nature, take a little Earth Day Trail Mix with you

Alex, Soph and Mom

P.S. For more information about ‘The Kids Cook Monday’, check out The Monday Campaigns, Healthy Monday site–we’re of they’re featured blogs

This week is strawberry week here at the Two Kids household. So, to kick-off our week-long tribute to one of our favorite berries, we thought we’d start off with a ‘The Kids Cook Monday’ episode sharing a tasty, strawberry snack.

The best thing about it–it’s not just sweet and delicious, it’s good for you!  The graham crackers contain whole grains, we use reduced-fat cream cheese, and only a small amount, and strawberries are packed full of vitamin C and other good stuff! (Check out Super Healthy Kids for more details on the health benefits of strawberries).

Alex and Soph just gobble these up, and they are so easy for us to make together after school for a quick snack.  If you give ‘em a try, they’ll disappear quickly, we guarantee

Strawberry Grahams
4 full sheets of low fat graham crackers
3 to 5 strawberries, sliced
2 Tablespoons Reduced Fat, strawberry cream cheese

Instructions
First, rinse off your strawberries and then slice them. Next, break the graham cracker sheets in half so you have 8 squares. Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese on each cracker. Finally, layer on your strawberries and you’re ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Alex, Soph & Mom

You may have seen this episode just a couple of weeks ago, but we thought it was worth a re-share for The Kids Cook Monday. This recipe is great to make with the whole family, getting all messy with some hands-on burger making. Tuna is also a lighter alternative to the standard, and here at the Two Kids house, Alex and Soph actually prefer them to hamburgers.

Tuna Burgers:
3, 12oz cans of tuna
2 eggs
3/4 cup of saltine crackers, crumbled
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
salt to taste
butter
hamburger buns

Open your cans of tuna and drain the water off. With your hands, combine the tuna, eggs, saltines, lemon pepper and salt. Once everything is all mixed together, form burgers.

On the stove, heat a frying pan with butter (although these are good on the grill too, just make sure they’re extra moist so they stay together). Once the butter is melted, add your tuna patties and cook one each side until browned.

Place each patty on a bun and serve– we recommend a little mayo too

Now go, get in the kitchen and have some fun cooking together!

Mom, Alex and Sophia

Here’s another re-post of a show from February that we think is great for ‘The Kids Cook Monday’. The Kids Cook Monday is an initiative and soon to be website from The Monday Campaigns. The idea behind this concept is to make Monday an eating right, family night where families take the time to cook and eat together for better nutrition and greater communication.

Alex, Sophia and I strongly support this initiative because we know first hand the benefits that cooking & eating together as a family brings–lots of fun & memory making, a life-long skill for the kids, and healthier meals for all of us. Plus, the folks at the Monday Campaigns shared a couple of interesting facts that make taking the time to cook together that much sweeter:

1) A recent study in the journal of Pediatrics finds lower incidences of obesity among children who eat together with their families.

2) Columbia University’s annual ‘The Importance of Family Dinners,’ study consistently reports that children from families who eat together often get better grades in school and have lower incidence of recreational drug usage.

With data like that, plus all the fun and memories you’ll make together, taking one day out of the week for some family cooking and eating seems like a must do.

We’ll pass on more information, and the URL to ‘The Kids Cook Monday’ site as soon as it’s available, but in the meantime, we encourage you all to take one day this week and make your evening meal a family event.

Herbed Chicken:
2 to 3 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Salt
Dash of Pepper
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
4 to 6 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breasts

Instructions for Herbed Chicken:
Mix together all of the ingredients except the chicken. Once they are blended together, add the chicken, making sure it’s well coated. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to 1 hour. When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, in an oven-safe pan brown the chicken on both sides over medium-high heat–discard the remaining marinade. When both sides of the chicken are browned, move the pan with the chicken to the oven to finish cooking (about 10 to 15 minutes).

Garlicky Spinach:
1 to 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 9 oz bag of Spinach

Instructions for Garlicky Spinach:
Heat the olive oil on medium-low in a large saute pan. Add the minced garlic. When the garlic becomes fragrant, after about 30 seconds, add the entire bag of spinach. With tongs, continually flip the spinach around until it starts to wilt. When it has wilted by about half, it’s ready to serve.