My kids are 2 and 4 years old. Dinnertime in our house can be a little tense some nights because of my kids’ various and sundry random aversions to different types of food. And the aversions can change on a nightly basis, by the way. One night my son loves chicken, the next night he hates it. One night my daughter is asking for broccoli, the next night she hates everything green. It’s exhausting trying to predict what they’ll be willing to eat from one night to the next.
Luckily, there are a few things I know without a doubt my kids will gobble up on any given night. When I’m having a particularly stressful evening or I’m too tired to make anything too complicated (and then fight them to eat it), I can count on a short list of meals that I can whip up real quick and be sure my kids will eat without (much) of a fight. A couple of those things is popcorn shrimp and fish sticks. What kid doesn’t love those things, right? And lucky for me, Gorton’s Seafood makes high quality and delicious popcorn shrimp and fish sticks (among other things) that only require me to pop them in an oven!
Easy & Delicious Meals with Gorton’s Seafood
Gorton’s Seafood was founded in Gloucester, Massachusetts way back in 1849. If you know anything about the folks from Massachusetts, you know they know their seafood! Gorton’s has been working hard for over 160 years to perfect the process of bringing families near and far the perfect frozen seafood products, without sacrificing quality of their products or the sustainability of their processing practices. They are committed every day to making sure their environmental impact is minimal while still providing high quality, 100% real fish products.
As a busy mom with two picky eaters, I love Gorton’s because they make it easy for me to introduce delicious seafood to my kids who would otherwise probably never try it. I also love that Gorton’s Seafood is quick and easy to prepare, especially on those nights when I have little time or energy to put into creating a grand meal for my family. I always have time to make my kids some fish sticks and my husband and I some fish fillets thanks to Gorton’s!
Another thing I love about Gorton’s products is that you can serve them as-is, no fluff, and the kids will gobble them up. But, you can also throw in a few extra ingredients and make a unique and delicious meal with hardly any extra work! Here are two of my favorite kid-approved recipes featuring Gorton’s Seafood. Enjoy!
Popcorn Shrimp Mini-Pizza
My kids gobble up popcorn shrimp and they never say no to pizza. I decided to combine the two into an easy and delicious dinner!
Ingredients:
- Gorton’s Popcorn Shrimp
- Naan bread or a tortilla
- Sauce of your choice (I used ranch dressing, but you can use marinara sauce or BBQ sauce)
- Mozzarella cheese
Put it together:
- First, cook the Gorton’s Popcorn Shrimp according to the package directions. We cooked about half the bag, enough to make two mini-pizzas and extra for mom and dad to munch on!
- Put your naan bread or tortillas on a cookie sheet and spread with your choice of sauce.
- Sprinkle a handful of cheese on top of the sauce.
- When the popcorn shrimp is cooked, add some to the top of the pizzas and pop the pizzas back in the oven (off but still warm) to melt the cheese a little.
- Serve to your hungry kiddos!
Fish Stick Tacos with Mexican Street Corn and Avocado Cream Sauce
My family loves tacos of all kinds but fish tacos are one of our faves! You can create these crazy delicious and super quick and easy fish stick tacos that your kids will be sure to love.
Ingredients:
- Gorton’s Crunchy Breaded Fish Sticks
- Tortillas (we made our own, but packaged tortillas are just fine!)
- Coleslaw mix
- Mexican street corn (I followed this recipe)
- Avocado cream sauce (two large avocados, 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup lime juice, 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp salt)
Put it together:
- Cook your Gorton’s Crunchy Breaded Fish Sticks according to package directions.
- While your fish sticks are cooking, prepare the Mexican street corn. Or, to make things even simpler, heat up some frozen corn kernels, drain the water and mix with shredded Cotija cheese.
- Prepare the avocado cream sauce by putting all the ingredients in to a food processor or blender and blending until smooth.
- When the fish sticks are done, begin assembling the tacos. Start with your tortilla and layer it with the coleslaw mix, followed by two or three fish sticks, and top it with the Mexican street corn. You can drizzle some cream sauce on top or put it in a dish for dipping. Enjoy!
My kids enjoyed both of these meals immensely and they were very easy to prepare! My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the tacos and plan to make them again soon. On the night that my kids ate the popcorn shrimp pizzas, my husband and I tried the Gorton’s Pub Style Beer Battered Cod fillets and they were delicious!
Stress-free weeknight meals are a must for my busy little family and Gorton’s has made quick and easy, delicious meals that much easier for us. We are so glad we were able to add a couple more to our stash of tried and true recipes!
