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.

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!

Making your very own roasted is sooo easy. So easy Soph’s gonna show you how:

Here’s the recipe:

1 head of Garlic
Olive Oil

Instructions:
Peel much of the papery outer part of the garlic head. Cut the top of the garlic off. Place the head of garlic in the center of a piece of aluminum foil. Pour about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil over the garlic, making sure to coat the entire head. Wrap it up in the aluminum foil and bake it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until it’s soft.

That’s it, easy and tasty!

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching so it’s time to start thinking of what to cook for those special someone’s in your life. Alex and Soph are kind of sweet for sweets, but I’m really trying to cut back the sugar and improve the nutritional value of the food we’re eating. Soooo, we decided that our Valentines Specialty for this year was going to be a little sweet and a little healthy (or at least not so unhealthy ) and here’s what we came up with–presenting our Banana Berry Valentine Trifle!!!

It’s super delicious–if you need evidence, here’s Alex and Soph devouring it after we filled the demonstration for 2 Kids Cooking TV–We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Banana Berry Valentine Trifle
1 Angel food cake (we used a store-bought one, but you could make your own)
2 to 4 cups of fresh strawberries (we used about 2 1/2 cups, but you can use more)
2 whole bananas (we used 1, but you could use more)Whipped Cream (we used store-bought, but you could make your own)

Custard
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 cups whole milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 Tablespoon butter
1 banana, mashed

Custard Instructions
In a saucepan, mix all of the dry ingredients together. Slowly stir in the milk and heat it until the it’s hot, but not boiling. Temper the eggs by slowly stirring some of the hot liquid into the eggs to bring them to temperature without cooking them. Then, add the egg/liquid mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Next stir in the vanilla, butter and the mashed banana. Let the mixture cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients for the trifle.

Assembly
Before compiling your trifle, cut the berries into quarters and cut the angel food cake into bite-size pieces. Once the custard has cooled, you’ll be ready to assemble!

Start by layering 1/3 of the cake on the bottom of your trifle bowl. The next layer is 1/3 of the custard and then 1/3 of the berries. Continue this layering 2 more times. Top it with your whip cream and some additional berries for decoration. Serve immediately.

Happy Valentines Day All!

This year, the Mom (that’s me), is focusing effort to improve the healthiness of the food the 2 kids and I eat. I’ve cleaned out the cupboards of super sugary snacks and am re-evaluating our favorite recipes to cut out the fat and sneak in some extra nutrients. Our Herbed Chicken and Garlicky Spinach meet this criteria, less fat and extra nutrient

The chicken in this week’s recipe has been a faithful member of our family recipe book for awhile, but the spinach is a new addition. I love the spinach, but honestly, the kids had a mixed reaction. We’re gonna keep it in our repertoire though, because Soph had lots of fun helping make it, as you’ll see when they demonstrate it in an upcoming episode of 2 Kids Cooking. The chicken is also simple to make with kids, making this meal a great candidate for a family cooking night–healthy and easy!

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.

Here’s the second recipe we submitted to the Jif’s Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest. It’s our premiere dessert sandwich. And, like with the Honey Peanut Butter Pulled Pork with Purple Slaw, we didn’t win anything; But, we did have lots of fun recipe testing

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons JIF Crunchy Peanut Butter
¾ oz Cream Cheese
1 cup + 3 additional fresh strawberries
1 Tablespoon sugar
¼ banana, sliced
2 round toaster waffles
1 Tablespoon butter
Powdered sugar (optional)

First, mix the peanut butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Then, add one cup of the strawberries and the sugar to a food processor and puree. Slice 2 of the additional strawberries and cut the final strawberry in half (for garnish).

Next, toast the two toaster waffles. Once they pop-up, spread one of the waffles with the peanut butter mixture. Layer the banana slices and strawberry slices next. Then, pour some of the strawberry puree onto the sandwich, keeping as much of the mixture on the sandwich, not running over the edges, as possible. Place the second waffle on top.

Preheat a frying pan on medium heat and melt about ½ tablespoon of the butter in the pan. Place the sandwich in the pan and then place another heavy pan on top of the sandwich, so it acts as a press.  After about 2 to 3 minutes, remove the top pan, remove the sandwich and melt the rest of the butter in the pan, flip the sandwich, replace the top pan and let it continue cooking for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the sandwich from the pan and cut it in half. Stick a toothpick in each half and top the toothpick with half of the remaining strawberry. Place the sandwich on a plate, lightly sprinkle with the powdered sugar and serve.

This recipe is one that I submitted for Jif’s Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest. I know we did not win anything, but we think our recipes are on the delicious side of things, so this week, we’re sharing our recipe for Honey Peanut Butter Pulled Pork with Purple Slaw. We hope you like it as much as we do (especially Alex ).

Pulled Pork:
4 Tablespoons JIF Honey Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Honey
2 Tablespoons Lt. Brown Sugar
2 Garlic Cloves, Pressed
1 tsp salt
½ cup of apple cider vinegar

Mix all of the ingredients together. Place 1 ½ to 2 lbs of pork shoulder into a slow cooker and pour the sauce over the meat. Cook on low heat for 8 hours. When the pork is tender, remove it and pull it apart. Next, return the pulled pork to the slow cooker and add 2 Tablespoons additional apple cider vinegar.

Slaw:
1 to 1 ½ cups purple cabbage thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons mayo
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the mayo, vinegar and salt and pepper together with a fork. Toss the cabbage and dressing together.

Assembly:
Place the pork on half of a sandwich bun and then layer some of the cabbage on top. Place the top of the bun on the sandwich, put the sandwich on a plate and serve.

We’ll probably demonstrate these on a show some time, if we do, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, ENJOY!

Pizza is one of God’s foods, we all know it’s true. It is easy to make and customizable to taste– the whole family can have their very own, built to meet their unique needs. This weeks recipe of the week, Personal Pizza Pockets, takes pizza to another level. All you have to do is take some dough, cut it in half and fill it with deliciousness; then bake, and waa laa!

These Personal Pizza Pockets are like jumbo pizza rolls built to order. We love ‘em and we know you will too. Their simplicity is not outdone by their uniqueness either. Each and ever family member can have their very own rendition of this classic. Enjoy!

Pizza Pockets
1 package refrigerator pie dough
1 jar pizza sauce
Mozzarella
Pepperoni
Olives, Black and/or Green
Any Pizza fixings that you like

First, take the pie dough and cut each piece in half. Next place each half on a foil-covered cookie sheet. Add the pizza sauce, cheese and fixings to half of each pie dough section. You will then fold the pie dough over and seal the edges by pinching them together.

Be creative with your pizza, add whatever topping/fillings you want. Alex loves chicken, and Sophie prefers no sauce…so that’s how we make ‘em!

To finish the pizza creations, bake them at 350 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes. This recipe makes 4 personal pizzas.

We’ll demonstrate this recipe in the upcoming weeks! And, it’ll feature our new Show Intro, just like this Saturday’s show…produced by Alex and Soph   See you Saturday!

You can’t have a New Years Party without hors d’oeurves for snacking on throughout the evening, right? Sooo, Alex, Soph and I came up with three 2 Kids hors d’oeurves recipes: Lemony-Garlic Shrimp Skewers, Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus, and Mini-Wrapped Hot Dogs. These recipes are great for kids to help with and they taste great too!

Lemony-Garlic Shrip Skewers:
Shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 garlic cloves, pressed
skewers

In a glass container, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, Italian season, and garlic cloves. Next stir in the shrimp, making sure they are all covered with the marinade. Let the shrimp marinade in the fridge for about 20 to 30 minutes.

After marinading, it’s time to place the shrimp on the skewers. I soak the skewers in water for a few minutes first so the don’t burn in the oven, then I put 4 shrimp on each skewer.

Place the skewered shrimp on a broiler pan or covered baking sheet and broil for about 2 minutes per side.

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus:
1/2 lb bacon
1 bunch asparagus (1 lb)
Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons Butter
toothpicks

First, prep the asparagus by cutting each piece to about 4 or so inches long.

Next heat a saute pan, melting the  2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter is melted, add the asparagus and sprinkle in some sea salt. Saute the asparagus for about 5 minutes and then remove from heat.

Prepare your bacon by cutting the strips in half. Take 4 pieces of asparagus and wrap a half a slice of bacon around the bunch, securing with a toothpick. Place the bunches on a covered backing sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 6 to 8 minutes per side to crisp up the bacon.

Mini-Wrapped Hot Dogs:
1 package mini hot dogs
1 tube Pillsbury cresent sheets

Unroll the Pillsbury cresent sheet and then cut into 4 inch wide strips. Next, cut each strip into about 4 squares. Then cut each square in half diagonally so you end up with a bunch of triagles.

Next, take one of the triangles and place a mini hotdot in one corner of the triangle, rolling the hotdog up in the dough. Wrap as many hot dogs as you have triangles, placing them on a foil covered baking sheet. When they’re all wrapped, bake them at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.

Alex, Soph and their friend Carter will demonstrate these recipes on an early-release episode of 2 kids, scheduled to air on December 31–check back then so you don’t miss their secret techniques ;D

We wish you all a happy, healthy and family cooking filled 2010!

Another holiday and a bunch more drool-inducing recipes have flooded my google reader queue. So, in the spirit of giving, I’m going to pass on a few that have produced the most longing from my taste-buds:

From The Recipe Girl: Chocolate Mint Crinkles w/ Mint Truffle Kisses

From Recipe Showbox: Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

From Barefoot Kitchen Witch: Chocolate Peppermint Nuggets

From fat girl trapped in a skinny body: Cinnamon Roll Snickerdoodles

From Eat at Home: Rolo Turtles

From Olicious Life: Lean Egg Nog

Each of these recipes is on our ‘to try’ list. This means my recommendations are on site and sound only, Soooo, if you try ‘em, let us know how they turn out

Happy Holidays Everyone!