How to Fold a Booklet

Two years ago at the Wild Goose Creative New Years celebration, Allison from Igloo Letterpress taught me an imminently useful skill: how to fold a four page booklet from a single piece of paper. Since then, I have transformed paper into books for Lil to make into dinner menus, sticker stories, and hand drawn comics. At one point she even labeled the bindings with letters like at the library to organize her homemade books.

Now I pass on the method to you. Create books for your kids to decorate, for a clever multi-page valentine card, or to display your next dinner party menu.

How to Fold a Book from Paper

First, make a hill fold in the center of the longest side of the paper. Fold the two short edges to meet the top of the hill, making two valley folds.

Unfold and bisect the short side with a fold. Now your paper should have eight even sections.

Re-fold the initial hill fold and cut the bisecting fold from the center through to the next valley fold.

Stand the paper up with the cut on top. Pinch together the ends to form three of the 'pages'.

Wrap the last page around the others and crease the binding well. Now you have four pages.

Decorate your book as you wish!

Pro Tips:

• At age five, Lil can fold a book like this if I help her but her edges and folds are not even enough to make a perfect book. Your child may be more adept and/or less of a perfectionist than mine.
• Lil figured out pretty quickly that if you make two books and glue the back of one to the front of the other, you have a bigger book.
• An 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper makes a 2 3/4" x 4 1/4" inch book.
• Paper thicker than card stock gets difficult to fold and manage. Plain copy paper works very well.
• When you are sufficiently addicted to book making, head over to Igloo Letterpress in Worthington Ohio to learn how to make different kinds of books. Or maybe you'll want one to purchase one of their BIY (bind it yourself) or no sew refillable books from the Etsy store?

Added to Simple Lives Thursday.

Healthy Snack Cake

The other day I noticed a little bit of homemade applesauce and some home-pureed pumpkin leftover in the fridge. I wanted to make something with them before they went bad. Five year old Lil and I had just made muffins for a meal so we wanted something a little different and came up with this cake. The batter is made in a single bowl for easy cleanup. Kids are great helpers for this recipe because there are no special techniques - just measure, dump in the ingredients and mix.

The ingredient list is adaptable to any fruit puree you might have around including pearsauce, applesauce, mashed banana or pumpkin puree. If baking with a child, ask them which spices they would like to match with the fruits used. Take their suggestions and you might both be surprised by how lovely a new combination tastes.

With minimal fat and extra fiber from the whole wheat flour and fruit, this is a cake I don't mind serving as a snack.

[print_this]Snack Cake

10 minutes cooking, 20-25 minutes baking

makes 9 servings

3/4 cup fruit puree (applesauce, mashed banana, pear sauce, pumpkin puree, etc.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup King Arthur white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sweet spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg or a mixture

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1. Add all ingredients to a stand mixer bowl or large bowl.

2. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on low for 30 seconds.

3. Increase speed to high and mix for three minutes.

4. Pour into buttered and floured 8x8 inch pan.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Frigidare just launched a family friendly website Make Time for Change. In addition to sharing recipes and tips on cooking with kids, they are donating $1 to Save the Children for all new visits to their site. Frigidare and my ad network, Foodbuzz, are donating an additional $50 for this post. Score for Save the Children!

Added to Hearth and Soul Volume 32.

Friday Five: Good Things I Read on the Internet this Week

Resolution Number 1 (get my head bone fixed) is underway - I had sinus surgery today.  Even though I am under the influence of narcotic pain killers, I believe I can still count to five well enough to share five interesting things I read this week: 1) Why by American Family - a lovely essay on why it is important and good to fight through the school plans, packing struggles, and overtired kids to travel with a family

2) Sustainable Love by Tara Parker-Pope for the New York Times - The whole sustainable series is great, but this post about successful marriages is the best in my opinion.  It explains a lot about how while Alex and I have some drastically different habits we are still very much in love and enjoy our marriage.

3) 2011 The Year of the Vegetable by George Ball for the Wall Street Journal - This concise opinion piece admonishes parents adults for failing to give children an influential example of a balanced diet.

4) Washing Away by Tiny Mantras - Tracy Zollinger Turner introduced me to a new New Year's superstition and a contemplative view on grief and death in this beautiful writing.

5) Fat Talk is For Babies by Sundays with Stretchy Pants - Amidst tons of posts about losing weight, meeting resolutions and the like, Abby writes a powerful essay about developing positive body image.

There - five blog posts that made me think this week.  Now I'm going to return to the drugged state of not-thinking.  Happy Weekend!

How Are The Chickens?

"How are your chickens?," I am asked frequently. The follow-on question is, "Are they ok in the cold?"

We chose backyard chicken breeds specifically for cold hardiness.  Indeed our Orpingtons, Australorp, and Speckled Sussex seem to be surviving quite well, though they are not clucking and cooing with pleasure as they did in the summer and fall.  Maybe they miss their visits from Lil, far more infrequent in the cold weather.

Winter Chicken Keeping Tactics

We took pity on the girls when the high temperatures dropped below freezing and installed a ceramic heat lamp in their coop.  This gives enough heat to melt snow on top of the roost lid.

We frequently add layers of bedding so they can nest in dry spots.  The biggest risk to chickens is frostbite on their combs and feet.  We are checking their health daily and thus far see no evidence of harm.

We change the water as often as three times a day to prevent it from freezing. 

We refill the feeder every two days.  The hens are consuming a lot more dry feed than they did over the summer when we filled every three or four days.

Lil and I are growing sprouts for them to eat.  They love the greenery and sprouts provide great supplemental nutrition.

The chickens free-range in the yard very little, seemingly fearful of the snow.  We question whether they are smart enough to return to the coop when their feet are cold, so we limit their snow play to an hour or so at a time.

Winter Egg Laying

As we expected because of reduced daylight, we are collecting far fewer eggs.  Our current average harvest is 10 eggs a week whereas in summer we were collecting 25.  Sussey the Speckled Sussex seems to be molting and not laying at all while she regrows feathers.

The eggs we do collect are more precious than ever.  We use them for dishes where egg quality is most noticeable, such as sunbread and breakfast scrambled eggs.  As much as it pained us to do so, we bought eggs from the store this week to fulfill our holiday baking needs.

Thanks to all who have asked about our girls!  We love to talk about them and are very glad they are doing well so far this winter.

Added to Simple Lives Thursday.

Happy Holidays from Santa Chicken

Precious few family and friends will receive a Santa Chicken in the mail this week.  As is our family tradition, Lil's illustration was printed on a postcard.  She later painstakingly water colored each chicken.

Lil offers you, dear readers, her chicken christmas joke.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"To eat the Christmas worm."

Ho ho!

Solstice Sun Bread

This fall, Lillian happened upon the book Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven at one of our wonderful library branches.  The story tells of a town of animals depressed by the winter cold.  The baker, a long eared dog, creates a loaf of bright yellow rich and warm sun bread. The animals eat it to brighten their days and invite the Sun to share some too. With no direct mention of Winter Solstice, clearly this story celebrates what our family considers central to the holiday: the return of life-giving sunshine.

On the back of the book is a recipe for sun bread. Lil wanted to make it immediately and so we did. The bread is as luscious and sustaining as the story promised.

click for larger pictures

Lil had the idea to shape sun bread dough in the shape of a turkey for Thanksgiving. We added some lemon rind and made some other slight adjustments for better function and flavor.

This coming Tuesday, the shortest day of the year, we will mix flour, eggs, butter, and more to share sun bread with some of our friends.  It just may become an annual tradition.

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Sun Bread adapted from Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven

2 tablespoons active dry yeast 3 tablespoons lukewarm milk 3 eggs, beaten 3 tablespoons sugar 2 - 2 1/2 cups bread flour 1 stick butter, melted 1/2 teaspoon salt zest of one lemon (optional)

1. Mix yeast and milk. Let stand until foamy. 2. Stir in eggs, sugar, 2 cups flour, butter, salt and lemon. Mix well, adding flour as necessary to form a dough. 3. Knead on a floured surface for 8 - 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. 4. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1-2 hours. 5. Punch down dough, knead gently, and divide into two portions. 6. With one portion, form a round flat ball to make the sun's face. Use a knife to carve eyes and a mouth. 7. Use a bit of dough from the second half to form a nose. 8. Divide the rest of the second half into six portions. 7. Shape three pieces into puffy triangles. 8. Roll the other three pieces into foot long lengths. Roll them to form snail shapes. 9. Alternate the puffy triangles and snails around the outside of the sun's face. Attach firmly with a bit of water or gently pressing. 10. Cover the sun and allow to rise again in a warm place for about an hour. 11. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the sun bread for about twenty minutes or until lightly brown. 12. Cool slightly before slicing. Enjoy with honey or jam on Solstice!

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Added to Simple Lives Thursday, 22nd edition.

'Tis The Season of GiveBack

The folks at One2One Network turned me on to a very cool site appropriate for the holiday season of giving: GiveBack.org.  The simple premise of this website is to make charitable giving easier. First, GiveBack users can create their own foundation from a huge variety of nonprofit organizations. The foundation I created benefits the Columbus Museum of Art, Slow Food International, Local Matters, Columbus Metropolitan Library and Capital Area Humane Society.  Register and $5 is instantly deposited in your account to give to your favorite charity.

Next, registrants can earn money towards their foundation by shopping through the GiveBack site.  The percentage donation varies per retailer, but over 400 stores have signed up including big names like Old Navy, Gaiam, and Staples.

Finally, you can contribute directly to GiveBack and disburse the money as you wish.  Adding funds is completed on a secure single screen.

As a bonus, GiveBack members can compete for a 'M Award' sponsored by MISSION founders Serena Williams and Steve Nash.  The M Award gives $1000 to the charity of a member with an inspiring story.

I have seen philanthropy concepts like this before but there always seems to be a catch.  So far, I can't find anything to dislike about GiveBack.  The money donated through GiveBack is turned over 100% to the charity with no surcharges.  (Non-intrusive sponsors cover the costs of operation.)  The site is professionally designed and I couldn't find a glitch among lots of surfing.  I gave funds in amounts as low as $1 to test flexibility for using this site with children who may want to split small donations several ways.

I plan to use GiveBack to manage my charitable donations this season.  How do you give during the holidays?

HanuSolMas

What do we believe?

What do we celebrate?

Why?

This are important questions, and ones that contribute to winter holiday stress for many.  Some find strife when family members disagree on the reasons for the season.  Others lament a general lack of meaning, or the transfer of moral significance to commercial gain.

Our Winter Holiday History

For the first few years of our marriage, Alex and I celebrated whatever we wanted to, picking and choosing mostly based on which holidays had the most yummy food and drink traditions.  As committed atheists, we were disconcerted with religious meaning but we threw some great parties.

At the time I taught at the Orthodox Jewish school and bought a beautiful hand made menorah.  Better observe Hanukkah to make use of the menorah, right?

In 2005, Lil came along.  It struck us that a string of meaningless dinners and decorations might confuse the child.  More importantly, we could mold her young self with moral lessons dictated through holiday stories.

Given our rejection of diety, miracles, and the like, just what might those moral lessons be?

Hanukkah

The Hanukkah story of the Macabees is our chance to share the value that everyone can believe what they want and stand up for that right.  We also share the story as an example that a dedicated group of individuals can indeed make change or even defeat a king.

We celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles at sundown as is the Jewish tradition.  We give Lil one piece of gelt per evening and play dreidel.  At least once during the eight nights, we cook up latkes and dough nuts in a fry feast.

Winter Solstice

Lil helped us discover a Solstice tradition earlier this year.  She picked up the book Sun Bread from the library shelves.  It doesn't mention Winter Solstice but does tell a sweet story of an animal city welcoming the sunshine back in midwinter with a rich yellow sun-shaped bread.

In a few days we will share the sun bread recipe.  We're making it again on the shortest day of the year.  On Solstice we share all the things we look forward to enjoying on sunny days.  The sun is, after all, the currency that allows us to grow our garden and feed our family.

Christmas

Honestly, Christmas is the most difficult celebration within which to find non-religious morality for me.  I can almost make myself believe that while Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, I honor the unique birth and life path of all my friends and relatives.  Alex is satisfied to just carry on family traditions on December 25th without applying any lessons or reasons why.

Christmas is the holiday with the most secular traditions in our extended families.  We exchange gifts, we bake cookies, and host a semi-formal Xmas Eve English goose dinner.  We joyfully sing carols and watch classic Christmas movies.

The Holiday Mash

So far, Lil has shown extreme flexibility in understanding our traditions.  This should not be surprising, considering the plethora of stories that swarm through a kid's mind.  It's part of preschooler development to define what is fact and fiction.  They do this best in a community of family and fun, just what we intend to cultivate around the holiday.

How do your holiday celebrations relate to your beliefs?  How to do share these with your family?