Alex loves fish. He would eat it everyday if he could. Actually, the only thing that stops me from feeding it to the kids more than twice a week is the mercury level worry. BUT, sometimes, one of our two fish meals for the week includes Tuna Burgers. Canned tuna really makes delicious burgers and, since Alex isn’t a hamburger eater, when we grill, we do traditional burgers and tuna burgers.

The recipe is pretty simple and it’s funto make with the kids. Squishing ingredients through fingers and forming burgers is just one of those things kids love.

If your family likes tuna, they’ll definitely like this fun variation of a tuna sandwich.

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 like ‘em with mayonnaise and some of us (that means Mom) like lettuce on ours

Enjoy!

Oh yeah–Don’t for get to follow us on twitter (@twokidscooking) and become a fan at facebook.

In our quest to expand our vegetable repertoire as part of our recognition of National Nutrition Month, this week is Pea week. Just like last week, I made three different recipes that featured peas; Then, Alex, Soph and I each tried them and provided our opinions.

Before I proceed I will let you know that neither Alex nor Soph are huge fans of peas. I was still able to get them to at least taste each recipe though

Sugar Snap Peas with Mint -
We found this recipe at Allrecipes.com.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – I thought this recipe was good. It’s a nice change of pace for us, eating the peaps in sugar snap form.

Alex – Ate them all up. He said he liked ‘em a lot, AND he said he’d gladly eat them again

Soph – At first, she said she loved them. She did eat them all, which is more than she usually does with peas; but, now only says she likes them a ‘little’.

Cream Peas -
This is my own personal recipe, although I’m sure there are many out there that are very similar. It’s basically just a cream sauce with butter, salt and pepper.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – I love cream peas. They are not, however, light, so I don’t make them that frequently. You can lighten it by using 2% milk and less butter without much flavor loss.

Alex – He said, and I quote, “they are creamy, but I don’t love them.” He again, did eat them all.

Soph – She took one bite and stated that she did not like them.  She was in a mood so I’ll try again with, hopefully, better results.

Ginger Butter Peas -
Again, my own invention, and the picture to the left is NOT the actual peas…we ate them before I could snap a picture. All you need is some butter and fresh ginger poured over some fresh or frozen steamed peas. The ginger adds a hint of spice that makes these peas special.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – Is there really a need to ask, I like all  food and veggies are my favorite. Anyway, they’re good.

Alex – He ate them all and said they ‘weren’t bad’.

Soph – She ate them, but not enthusiastically. This is no different from when I make just plain peas.

Overall our experimentation with Peas went well with Alex and fairly unspectacularily with Soph. The Sugar Snap Peas were a hit though. And, I had fun cooking peas again. I guess I’ve decided that even if the kids don’t love ‘em, we’re still gonna keep eating ‘em. There are a lot more recipes out there, too. It’s like a long term goal, finding a Pea recipe Sophia loves–I will, oh, yes I will…

Make sure to stop by next week for our Carrot extravaganza. Sophia likes carrots, so this time Alex is gonna be the one I have to win over. Luckily, I love a challenge

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I decided to order and test some of Curious Chef’s products. They look fun and I was intrigued by the cutlery in particular.

Overall, we loved the tools, the knives are great too, especially with Sophia. She is good with a ‘real’ knife, but she also gets distracted when she’s cooking on occasion. The Curious Chef knives provide an extra sense of safety.

We tested out each piece in this week’s episode, and you can get Alex and Sophia’s direct feedback as you watch. If you decide the little chef’s in your life would appreciate their very own cooking tools, we recommend My Secret Pantry. The order was processed quickly and we got our package without a glitch. Plus, they have lots of other cool stuff too

If you’d prefer, you can also get Curious Chef Products at Amazon.com.

March is the month that we celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Here in Minnesota, it’s also the beginning of the end of an oh-so-long winter. So, the kids and I decided to come up with a recipe that is appropriate for the holiday, and that reminds us of the warm summer days we are missing terribly as we watch the snow fall, and fall, and keep falling. The result is our Tropical Shamrock Smoothie!

Tropical Shamrock Smoothie
10 to 14 ice cubes
1 13.66 fl. oz. Can of lite coconut milk
1 8.5 oz can of Cream of coconut
The juice of two Limes
Green food coloring
1 to 1 1/2 T Fresh chopped mint (and some whole for garnish)

Add all of the ingredients to a blender. Blend, pulsing as necessary until all of the ice is crushed. Pour into glasses and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

Last week, I shared with everyone the fact that March is National Nutrition Month. I also announced that Alex, Soph and I are celebrating the month by testing out some veggie recipes. Each week we’re focusing on a particular vegetable, and this week the focus is on broccoli.

Honestly, both Alex and Soph like broccoli; BUT, they only like it steamed with a little butter and salt. So, to try and broaden their broccoli-eating horizons, we tested three recipes. Links to the original recipes, along with our thoughts on each, follow:

Broccoli Bites -
This is a recipe I found at one of my favorite recipe sites, allrecipes.com.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – First, there is broccoli in here, but there is also cheese, and it’s fried…not the healthiest way to cook; BUT, I loved ‘em. They’d be a great hors d’oeuvres.

Alex – Said, ‘Not bad’ and ate a couple. He said he’d eat them again.

Soph – Ate a half of one and said she liked it…I’m not sure how promising that is, but, again, she did eat some.

Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelets -
This one I found at Gina’s WW Recipes , although I ‘un-weight watchered’ it a bit.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – Again, I thought this one was super delicious. I did alter the recipe a bit though, using 8 whole eggs instead of the 1 cup of whites and I used full-fat cheese. They keep nicely in the fridge, too, for microwave reheating as a quick breakfast.

Alex – Would not try them. He’s not a huge eggs and cheese fan, so I wasn’t surprised.

Soph – Tasted it, made a face and said she didn’t want anymore. This was disappointing to me because she likes eggs, cheese and broccoli. I have hope she’ll at least try it again.

Broccoli with Lemon -
I found this one at About.com in the Southern Food section.

Our Thoughts:
Mom – I liked it, but it was pretty standard steamed broccoli with butter; a bit boring…the lemon did brighten it though and it was quick and easy to make.

Alex – Loved it…had two helpings. He likes citrus on everything, so no real shocker here.

Soph – Loved it and exclaimed it was sooo good! She, like her brother, is a huge fan of the lemon.

Overall we had a lot of fun with our little broccoli-o-rama. Even though the kids didn’t love all of the recipes, they were family-cooking friendly and we had a great time making ‘em. Check back next Monday for our Pea-Fest. It should be interesting since neither of the kids is pea lover

A couple of weeks ago, Alex, Soph and I tried one of our Kitchen Chemistry Experiments–we made our very own fresh mozzarella cheese. Both of the kids love science, and learning about making cheese seemed right up their alley…plus I’ve always thought it would be fun to try. I was right, it is fun. But, beware, it’s kind of addicting too. Maybe I’m just a perfectionist, but I can’t stop trying to get each batch a little more perfect. Luckily, Sophia is a fresh mozzarella eating monster, she just scarf’s it right up

If it’s something you’ve wanted to try, you definitely should. You’ll see just how easy it is in this episode. If you want more detail on exactly what we did, check out our Kitchen Chemistry: Making Mozzarella post.

Happy Cheese-making everyone!

Oh, and don’t forget to give us a follow over on Twitter or maybe fan us on Facebook, we like to keep in touch with our viewers

You may have seen the kids and I demonstrate this tasty recipe on last weeks episode of 2 Kids Cooking. If you did, you know just how easy Pizzadillas are to make. They have the benefit of filling customization, which we love, plus they’re good for kids at any skill level to do some hands on helping.

Pizzadillas
Main Ingredients:
Flour Tortillas
Cheese – Mozzarella, Cheddar, a Marbled variety, whatever you prefer
Pizza Sauce for dipping
Cooking Spray

Optional Ingredients:
Pepperoni
Sausage
Chicken
Olives, black and/or green
Artichoke hearts
Onions
Whatever you like on your pizza

Instructions:
The first thing you’ll want to do is prep the ingredients. Grate the cheese, slice your olives, cut up your chicken, etc… Next, give everyone two of the tortillas and have them start adding their favorite toppings. Be careful not to overfill or it will be hard to flip when it’s in the pan. Once each person is satisfied with the contents of their pizzadilla, add the second tortilla to the top and you’re ready to melt it up.

Heat a pan on the stove top. Once it’s hot, spray it with cooking spray and then set in your first pizzadilla. When the first side is browned, spray the side facing up and then flip the pizzadilla over. After side two has browned and the cheese has melted, lift it out of the pan and let it cool on a plate. Next, it’s time for cutting! We usually cut ours into either 4 or 6 pieces.

Once your pizzadilla is cut to your satisfaction, serve with a side of microwave-warmed pizza sauce and you’ve got yourself a quick, easy and tasty meal!

We hope you have fun with your own family pizzadilla fest!

P.S. Don’t for get to follow us on twitter (@twokidscooking) and become a fan at facebook.

In case you didn’t know, March is National Nutrition Month. And, since I’ve proclaimed 2010 the year the 2 Kids household will improve the nutritional quality of the food we eat, I’m kind of excited about it. For this year’s theme , the American Dietetic Association has chosen to emphasize, ‘Nutrition from the Ground Up,’ reminding us all that improving our diets doesn’t have to be complicated, it’s just a matter of starting to focus on the basics, building a foundation of health.

To help celebrate this month and continue to build our own ‘foundation of health,’ we’ve decided to expand our vegetable horizons. Each Monday in March, I’ll be sharing Alex and Soph’s opinions on some veggie recipes I’ve dug-up from around the inter-webs (and a couple will be my own creations). March 1st will be a Broccoli-fest, followed by Peas, then Carrots, and closing out the month will be Green Beans. All of the recipes will be kid-cooking friendly too, so the whole family can get in on the preparation and eating of these veggie-ful creations.

If you’re interested in more information on National Nutrition Month, head on over the ADA’s website.

OK, so we love pizza and we like to make in as many different forms as possible. This recipe is takes a classic quesadilla, and some pizza fixings (your favorite of course!), adds some pizza sauce ‘dip’ and viola! you have Pizzadillas.

The best part of this recipe is the simplicity. It is perfect for making with the kids and it’s quick to whip together. Alex, Soph and I show you just how easy in this weeks episode…enjoy!

P.S. Don’t for get to follow us on twitter (@twokidscooking) and become a fan at facebook.

NOTE: Alex wrote this post

I love beef jerky. So much I wish I could make my own. Lucky for me, mom has a food dehydrator. Ever since I heard this, I’ve been searching the web for just the right recipe. With my taste, I prefer high salt and a whole lot of garlic (I would eat it raw if possible). I also like mild spicy things like teriyaki & also a touch of sweetness, like in brown sugar. I’ve found a recipe that has all that, yet room for improvement, as every dish on the planet does. Here’s the link, though I must give credit to Cooks.com for providing us with great recipes-Beef Jerky.

P.S. From the Mom…we’re going to be testing this recipe (with a few tweaks, as Alex indicates) in an upcoming episode of 2 Kids Cooking. We’ll update you with our feedback.