Recipes – Phlox Architect

25Jul 2025 by catbird No Comments

Wildflower Meadow Soda

First Harvest, Foraging, Recipes, Summer

First Harvest is a time of year when nearly everything is ripe and ready for harvest. It is a time of year when grass and grains are coming into their own. This immediately takes my mind to golden meadows and droopy wildflowers swaying in the sun. We live in a pretty urban area, but there is a park nearby with a big open meadow and the kids love to run through it with butterfly nets swooping wildly and collapsing into fits of giggles. It's such a late summer experience and consequently, such a late summer drink. August here is hot and muggy. I love my tea, and so do the kids, but I just can't in August. Instead we make sun tea, iced tea, tea lattes and tea sodas. This…

30Jan 2025 by catbird No Comments

“Over and Under the Snow”

Craft Project, Hike Ideas, Learning, Picture Book Buds, Picture Book Hikes, Play, Recipes, STEAM, Winter

Picture Book Buds are a fun and easy way to incorporate literacy into nature study. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related activity and snack suggestions! Over and Under the Snow Written by: Kate Messner, Illustrated by: Christopher Silas Neal Over and Under the Snow is a classic winter time picture book read. It manages to be both fun to read and packed with information about what various animals do to survive during the winter, making it great for mixed age groups. I always include it in my hibernation study recommendations, but where is really shines in my opinion is in it's description of the Subnivean Zone. The hibernators seem to get all the love this time of year, and all while the shrews, mice…

29Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

“Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch”

Craft Project, Folklore, Picture Book Buds, Play, Recipes, Twelfth Night, Winter

Picture Book Buds are a fun and easy way to incorporate literacy into nature study. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related activity and snack suggestions! Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch Written by: Barbara Cuoghi, Illustrated by: Elenia Beretta, Translated by: Genni Gunn Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch is a picture book that has been translated from its original Italian which tells the story of Befana the Winter Witch. If you have read my blog before you may know that I am a huge fan of Befana (check out my Befana bread here) and always include her in our Twelfth Night festivities, I have even considered writing a picture book about her because all of the ones that…

26Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

New Year’s Eve Chocolate Piñatas

New Year's Eve, Play, Recipes

By New Year's Eve I am pretty tapped out. Strangely though, it's become one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with my family. My kids love it and I do way less in preparation. We have what I lovingly call "tiny dinner" which is a bunch of store bought appetizers heated up throughout the night at pretty random intervals. My kids love this, probably more than any of the huge homemade meals I make for the other holidays. We have adapted that "do an activity every hour" pinterest stalwart to do a bunch of activities at completely random intervals until we get tired and go to sleep. We do a bunch of fortune telling games and activities for the new year. (You can read more about some of our traditions…

22Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Sun Pop Tarts

Recipes, Winter, Winter Portfolio

Looking for a special breakfast on the Winter Solstice? These sun poptarts are an easy and impressive way to welcome back the sun. And if I'm honest, also a good way to use up some of that yummy persimmon butter from the sun bread.. You can make the pie crust and the filling, or you can buy both. You can assemble the tarts and then stick them in the freezer to make ahead as well. They cook brilliantly from frozen so you don't even have to remember to defrost them. (I am all about making things adhead during the holiday season) Ingredients: pie dough (homemade, store bought, gluten free, vegan, whatever works for you) persimmon butter or any orange colored jam (recipe for persimmon butter here) egg wash sugar for…

11Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Sun Buns

Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice

We loved the sun bread we made last year so much that I decided to make another variation this year-- sun buns!! (Also admittedly I just really like saying sun buns) Same idea, just smaller and easier to serve. Sun Bread, is of course a beloved book by by Elisa Kleven about baking a sun bread to coax the sun to come back- perfect for the Winter Solstice. In the book they bake a big bread to share, which is of course delightful too, but since I had already deviated from the recipe in the story, I decided to keep going. I use a gluten free brioche recipe from Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple (actually the babka recipe which makes a double batch) to make this sun bread gluten free. You…

10Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Deer Mother Winter Solstice Cookies

Folklore, Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice

After drawing my 2024 Winter Solstice Countdown calendar I couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful image of the deer carrying the sun in it's antlers. I was thinking about all of the Winter Solstice cookies I have made and wondering how I could make one that really is Winter Solstice. Full stop. My Longest Night cookie almost does that, but for the most part they would be perfectly appropriate for a variety of holidays. Generally I like that, we celebrate secular Christmas and Hanukkah too. But I wanted to make one cookie that was unabashedly for the Solstice. Hence the Deer Mother Cookie was born. First, a little background on the Deer Mother. There has been a deer mother/ winter solstice tale making the rounds lately with most claiming it…

10Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

“Greenglass House”

Craft Project, Learning, Middle Grade Book Buds, Recipes, Winter

Next up in middle grade book buds, is Greenglass House. I have been reading a ton of middle grade books lately, but would love to hear your suggestions for more book buds! Middle grade books are substantially longer, so I have broken the middle grade book buds into a lesson, a craft or two, and a snack. All are driven by the themes and ideas in the respective book. These could be the jumping off point for a more in depth academic book study, or just a fun project to further immerse yourself in the worlds of your favorite books! Greenglass House Written by: Kate Milford Greenglass House is sort of an unusual choice for me, it's not particularly nature focused and it falls pretty solidly into the mystery genre, but there…

02Dec 2024 by catbird 1 Comment

Pretty Plentiful & Pleasant Pomanders

Craft Project, Play, Recipes, Simmer Pot, Winter, Winter Solstice

Sorry! Sometimes I have to give in to my terrible alliteration tendencies. This post is all about pomanders in every form. I love the smell of oranges and cloves together more than most things-- it's one of those things I never get tired of. So I decided to go nuts and collect a whole bunch of the various pomander projects I've done over the years in one convenient place! Pomander balls have been associated with Christmas and/or Winter Solstice for some time, but that isn’t how they originated. We think of them as oranges studded with cloves, but in medieval Europe, people would keep little satchels of herbs on them because most everyone and everything smelled bad. They became a status symbol and the wealthier you were the fancier your…

19Nov 2024 by catbird No Comments

“Owl Moon”

Craft Project, Picture Book Buds, Picture Book Hikes, Play, Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice

Picture Book Buds are a fun and easy way to incorporate literacy into nature study. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related activity and snack suggestions! Owl Moon Written by: Jane Yolen Illustrated by: John Schoenherr Owl Moon is a classic winter story about a young girl and her father going for a walk at night. They are hoping to see some owls and her excitement at staying up late like a big kid is palpable. I am also always struck by her desire to keep quiet so as not to scare off potential owls, that struggle for a young child to be quiet and observant is something so many parents will immediately recognize, and it's so beautifully detailed. This one is a classic…

Category: Recipes