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Banana Jam Recipe

This is a simple way to make use of browning bananas in a more versatile way than banana bread!

Recipe
3 cups overripe bananas (brown spots but not fully brown)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
Smidge bourbon (vanilla, rum, or lime are all ok too)
Pinch salt

Equipment:
Heavy bottom medium/ large sauce pan
Whisk
Spatula
Silicone brush
Cup of water

Whisk water and sugar in pan to incorporate, then begin to heat at medium high - do not whisk again.
Using your brush with water, rinse the sides down periodically to prevent crystallized build up. You may swoosh the pan to ensure even caramelization, but do not stir. Once a nice amber color is achieved, add your thinly sliced bananas, and stir with your spatula. Let simmer until bananas are transparent and can be whisked to fully break down. Remove from heat, add a pinch of salt and bourbon. Pour into jar, or container and allow to cool.

Educational Activities for Kids at Home

With kids at home for the upcoming weeks, it can be difficult to come up with activities to keep them occupied while also focusing on their educations and life skills. Below are some ideas for activities to try with your kids while you’re home together that incorporate learning and skill building. All of these ideas incorporate items commonly found around the house so you can keep your family safe and healthy, but also entertained.

1) Math through Baking

Get kids interested in math through baking. Make some chocolate chip cookies with your kids and have them do all the measuring. Ask age-appropriate questions such as:

“If we need 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of chips how many cups total will we have?”

“If we need ¾ cups of white sugar and ¾ cup brown sugar how many total cups of sugar do we need?”

“If we have 2 cups how many quarts do we have? How many gallons?”

Continue asking questions throughout the baking process to keep kids thinking about the math as they bake. Let the kids time the cooking with an analog clock to help them add and learn to tell time.

2) Math with Allowance

Do your kids struggle with money math? When assigning chores over break, give each chore a small denomination money value. For instance, each piece of silverware washed is worth a nickel, each plate is a quarter, pans are a dollar, etc. This teaches kids to multitask, practice counting, and count add money amounts. Try it with folding laundry, picking up toys, putting groceries away, etc. Just don’t forget to write the values down!

3) Science and Engineering

Looking for a project to tackle with the kids? Have them help take the shower heads off. Let them do the wrench work to tune their motor skills. Soak the shower heads in vinegar for limescale for mold. Talk to them about how vinegar (acetic acid) reacts with lime (calcium oxide) that has built up allowing it to dissolve back into water. Or if mold is the issue, teach them that mold is a living organism that thrives in wet, dark areas, but cannot survive acid like acetic acid (vinegar).

If you have any other building or plumbing projects be sure to involve the kids! It may take a few tries but will ultimately teach them self-sufficiency while also tuning their motor skills.

4) Gardening

Spring is the perfect time of year to start a garden and being quarantined doesn’t have to mean staying inside! Ask your kids what they want to grow. Have them pick a couple of region-appropriate (no banana trees in upstate New York unfortunately!) veggies and maybe some flowers. Teach them about different herbs and what foods they go in then let them choose which herbs they want to try to grow. Start the seeds indoors and teach kids about watering, soil mixtures, and fertilizing. You can even make your own fertilizer by drying out used eggshells (calcium), coffee grounds (copper, nitrogen, potassium), and/or banana peels (potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium). Crush them up once dry and work into the soil. (Note: research which nutrients are needed for different plants before adding fertilizer, whether it’s homemade or from the store). As plants grow, teach kids about photosynthesis and how plants “eat” and “drink” through their root network.

5) Cultural Adventures

Every few days pull out a globe or a map and randomly select a country from it. Spend time with the kids learning about the country for a few days. Talk about what grows there, what the people wear, art styles, and food. Have kids try to color a picture using colors and patterns inspired from that country. Try picking a dish from that country to either make with the kids or to order out from a local restaurant (if available). Teach kids common phrases like “Hello, how are you?” or “Nice to meet you!” in the language of the country.

6) Crafts

Kids love crafts, but they probably don’t realize that crafts help bolster their imaginations, dexterity, and other important skills. Teach kids a new craft like origami, sewing, or crochet or learn a new craft with them! If you’re feeling really ambitious, try to design a Rube Goldberg machine or stack dominoes to watch them fall. Let kids take control and offer guidance when they struggle, allowing them to gain confidence and engineering skills. For older kids and teenagers, give them a larger project like building a small trebuchet/catapult or a potato gun. Have them research and design the project then help work them through building it.

7) Egg Physics

If you have multiple kids, give them some toilet paper rolls, straws, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, cardboard, etc. and have them try to build a holder to drop an egg without it breaking. Give them an hour to work with no limits on supplies or further instruction and see what their imaginations create! After they finish, drop the eggs from increasing heights until they break. Talk about the physics of falling and gravity. Explain that force is equal to mass times acceleration and have them think about ways to lower the force on the egg when it drops. Have them improve on their designs or redesign entirely and repeat the competition. See what improvements they can come up with!

8) Building and Moving

Work together with the kids to create and obstacle course, either indoor or outdoors, with household items. Make sure to work in jumping, crawling, running, bending, and any other movements you can think of. Have the kids compete with each other or with a timer to make an interactive P.E. experience at home, while also having them working on their building/design skills.

9) Urban planning

Bust out some painter’s tape or masking tape and have your kids design roadways on the carpet. Use blocks or boxes or anything you have available to use as buildings. Have the kids set up grocery stores, gyms, restaurants, houses, etc. and then they can play with matchbox cars or dolls to get around. Play with them and have them think about how far the cars have to go to get food or to the highways. Create traffic jams to have them consider how to make alternate roadways more appealing.

10) Marble Roller Coaster

One of my all-time favorite science projects in school was building a roller coaster. Give your kid some foam pipe and let them design a roller coaster for a marble. Add requirements like their must be at least one loop-the-loop and the marble must stop within an inch of the end of the pipe.


What other ideas do you have? Share your ideas in the comments and let us know how all of your fun projects turn out!

Tips for Sticking to your 2020 GF Diet Resolution

As 2019 comes to a close, it’s “New Year, New Me” resolution time. Whether going GF is a dietary choice or a necessity, these 7 tips will help you achieve your goals this year!

1) Purge Your Gluten: The best way not to give into temptation is to remove it altogether! Donate unopened gluten products to local food pantries. For things like bread or other perishables, try giving them away to friends or family who might use them. If you aren’t going gluten free for medical reasons, ease yourself into the diet by donating unopened pasta, but finishing out the loaf of bread for sandwiches.

For me, sticking to a diet means a lot of planning. I use week plan sticky notes to plan meals ahead and put them on my kitchen calendar. I plan grocery shopping and eating out in a planner so I can keep track on the go!

2) Stock up on Guilty Pleasure Foods: When starting a new diet, the hardest part is sticking with it through the first few weeks. For this, buy some snacks to eat in between meals. Fruits and veggies are always a good, healthy go-to. Popcorn and flavored rice cakes are lower calorie savory choices. For emergency snacking, keep a favorite bag of chips (most are GF: just check the label or the internet) or some Glutino cookies (GF Oreo alternative) handy and enjoy in moderation. Making a lifestyle change doesn’t happen overnight and easing in will help you stick with it for long haul.

Glutino cookies (link) are a good emergency snack for when you have a sudden craving.

3) Make Food Prep Easy: Food prepping can be hard to adjust to if you haven’t done it before. To ease in, start out by buying a few bags of frozen veggies. Try to avoid canned goods where possible if dieting: they have added salt or sugar to preserve the food. Cooking is as easy as pan frying or steaming the veggies with no extra prep time! Next, pick up some Italian seasoning (or whatever spice mix you prefer), some boneless skinless chicken breasts, and a couple of sauces you like. Season and bake the chicken (bake all of it at the beginning of the week to save time), add the veggies, and pour some sauce over it all: Voila! Dinner is ready! You can also add some Barilla GF pasta or some rice for a starch (or riced vegetables: available prepared and frozen).

An assortment of frozen vegetables keeps meals interesting and simple to prepare.

4) Prep and Freeze Ahead of Time: At the beginning of the week or month, chop and prep an assortment of veggies. Freeze a meal’s worth in reusable, freezer safe containers. Repeat this process for fruits to use in smoothies. For meat, freeze the package from the store or process (chop, skin, de-bone, etc.) ahead of time if necessary and then freeze.

Freeze meat in full packages, separate 1-2 pieces to freeze, or trim/de-bone/slice before freezing to simplify meal time.

5) Plan Meals Ahead of Time: Take some time at the beginning of the week to plan dinners for each night. Make extra to eat for lunch the next day. Eat simple, easy meals on weekday mornings: granola bars, cereal, smoothies (use the prep-ahead fruits, some protein powder, and GF oats so it's tasty and filling!). Planning ahead takes the pressure off at night and helps stop the urge to just order take-out. Remember to plan nights to eat out or order in, too, so you don't break your plans!

Having an arrangement of reusable containers makes it easy to prep ahead and save. Fun colors and designs can also make meals fun for kids!

6) Research and Plan New Foods: Being GF can feel limiting and start to seem like eating the same few foods over and over when first starting. Make a goal to find a new recipe and try it out on your night off each week. Include family and/or friends in planning and cooking to make your new diet feel less isolating. There are GF cookbooks and the internet is an excellent resource for thousands of free recipes. Our resolution this year at O'Malley's Oven is to start rolling out recipes and cooking vlogs for you to try this year that are simple and stress-free (and delicious!).

7) Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help: Talk to loved ones and ask for help keeping you honest, keeping the kitchen GF, or even going GF with you! Having the support of the people you live with, eat out with, or spend time with makes a world of difference when changing diets. And, as always, feel free to leave comments on our blog posts with any questions, suggestions, or recipe requests. 

Let's make 2020 the best year yet!

A Beginner’s Guide to Gluten Free (GF) Eating

Whether you’ve been diagnosed as celiac, gluten intolerant, or just want to try out gluten free to see what the buzz is about, you don’t have to feel intimidated by cooking GF! I’ll discuss how to avoid cross-contamination and break down the basics of cooking proteins, fruits & veggies, and grains that are GF safe in today’s blog post. This will just be a broad strokes overview and we’ll go more in depth in specific areas in the future.

The Kitchen

The first step to cooking GF is to know what level of GF you need. For people with celiac, an allergy, or a severe intolerance ANY cross-contamination could mean some quality bonding time with the restroom. For people who are trying out the diet or just have a mild intolerance, feel free to skip to the next section as this info won’t be relevant. 

Cross-contamination can occur in so many ways and isn’t always as obvious as crumbs falling onto a plate. The first step of avoiding a gluten sneak-attack is to make sure all dishes and cutting surfaces are cleaned with soap and water (not just brushed off) before using. This is pretty easy in a GF kitchen, but if you’re in a mixed diet family it can get tricky. Here are some tips for keeping GF:

  • 1. Keep a separate cupboard or drawer for GF utensils, dishes, cutting boards, etc., if you have the resources to do so. They don’t have to be fancy: dollar stores sell most of what I’ll mention. 

  • 2. If you’re in a mixed kitchen (with people who eat gluten), silicone cutting board mats can be a godsend. They’re fairly inexpensive and can be thrown over cutting boards or counters to quickly ensure no contamination (especially WOODEN cutting boards, which should be avoided for use with gluten and GF items: stick to plastic, stone, silicone: anything non-porous).

  • 3. Avoid using bamboo or wooden utensils, if possible. Or buy silicone or plastic utensils (again: the dollar store sells these) to keep separately from porous utensils. Color coding with tape, nail polish, whatever is around the house, or just buying all single colored utensils will help separate.

  • 4. Avoid wooden knife blocks: knives with gluten crumbs that are slid into the block will leave behind gluten! A magnetic knife strip on the wall is a simple alternative without the risk.

  • 5. Cast iron should be designated gluten or gluten free because it is porous.

  • 6. When baking, use baking mats or parchment paper to be extra safe, but washing with soap as you normally do should be fine for metal and non-stick materials. At O’Malley’s Oven we use copper baking mats to try to avoid single use waste.

  • 7. Toasters are very hard to isolate. If possible, consider using a toaster oven or just broiling toast on the top rack of the stove. Or get a separate toaster for just GF bread if possible.

  • 8. Colanders are difficult to clean because of all the holes. A separate colander for GF is a must-have in a mixed kitchen.

  • 9. When in doubt, or if you’re still getting sick, wash everything twice with a fresh sponge or cloth!

It seems overwhelming, I know, but really what it comes down to is knowing your kitchen and educating the other people who use it.

GF Proteins

Proteins are naturally gluten free. As long as you buy just raw meat, seafood, beans, nuts, etc., you should be all set.

However, heavily processed foods can be a little more dicey. Of course breaded meats in the freezer section will not be GF (unless the package specifically says it is). With products like tempeh, that should be gluten free, be careful: they can have other grains or even dyes that may contain gluten.

Basically: if it’s packaged, look for “Gluten Free” near the ingredients. If you don’t see it and aren’t sure, put it back and try something else. If there aren’t gluten free alternatives (e.g. breaded chicken products), consider looking up a recipe online.

Or feel free to reach out to us at O’Malley’s Oven via email, Instagram, Facebook, etc. and we will work on creating a recipe for you in a blog post!

GF Fruits and Veggies

Fruits and vegetables get the same basic rundown as proteins: they’re naturally gluten free, but watch out for processed foods. Prepared meals can have cross-contamination risks or thickening/preserving agents that have gluten. Again, check the label for the “Gluten Free” text and, wherever possible, get the raw version.

If cross-contamination is a risk, ALWAYS wash fruits and veggies well after buying. Factories that package or ship produce sometimes use belts for products with gluten!

GF Grains

Grains are, of course, the hardest category. Barley, wheat, and rye all contain gluten: avoid them at all costs (your colon will thank you). Rice, potatoes, quinoa, corn, peas, nuts, millet, and oats are all grains that are naturally gluten free. 

HOWEVER, they are frequently processed in factories that process glutinous grains. Again, check the packaging for the “Gluten Free” text and opt for raw, whole grains rather than processed. Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flours both have a large selection of gluten free options, including GF all-purpose flour. 

Other places to be careful are pastas, cereals, breads, tortillas, crackers, chips, granola and granola bars, and so much more. Luckily, GF awareness is very prevalent in 2019, so products will say “Gluten Free” if you know to look.

Check out these products for some great gluten free food options (products without links are made by O’Malley’s Oven):

GF Alcohol

Unfortunately, beer generally contains gluten (although Glutenberg makes some incredible GF beers if they’re available in your area).

While beer is prepared via fermentation and still contains gluten once prepared, liquors are typically gluten free because of the distillation process. During distillation, a mash of ingredients is boiled and the vapors are captured and cooled to make the liquor. Gluten will not evaporate because it is a large protein, so gluten is not present in the end product. However, some liquors contain additives or dyes that are put in after distillation and contain gluten. Since liquor facilities process grains, there can also be a risk of cross-contamination. When in doubt, Google is your friend! 

Or (good news for all my fellow wino’s out there!) wine and hard cider are naturally gluten free! So grab a bag of Franzia or a bottle of J. Lohr and drink away!

TL;DR:

  1. Eat raw, natural foods that were prepared at home where possible. 

  2. Look for “Gluten-Free” on the label of processed foods.

  3. Drink copious amounts of wine (responsibly: Lyft is gluten free).