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Five Alive Punch for the Holidays

December 16, 2022 by Chris Leave a Comment

An amazingly refreshing citrus punch for the holidays

This retro punch recipe from the 1970s is perfect for any holiday or special event. As you can guess from the title of this post, the secret ingredient is Five Alive Citrus juice. I looked all over the place for Five Alive Citrus juice and finally found it in Canada via Amazon.com.

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five-alive-citrus-punch-for-holidays

This citrus punch is amazingly refreshing. We call it “First Communion Punch” in our family since we always served it at first communion celebrations.  It is also the perfect punch for wedding showers, graduation parties, Thanksgiving Day, or holiday parties. The light, effervescent quality of this punch just lifts you up.

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Editing: an overlooked skill to master before graduating

July 8, 2022 by Chris Leave a Comment

Editing is a skill you should master before you graduate. Just because you are graduating doesn’t mean you are done writing and editing papers. Not by a long shot.

spring-street-scene-with-white-pillars- building-and-domed-cathedral-for-graduation
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Cheesy potatoes with a twist

April 14, 2022 by Chris Leave a Comment

Everyone loves cheesy potatoes, right? I make cheesy potatoes every Easter. My recipe has a slight twist. I use O’Brien style hashbrowns.

Cheesy potatoes in a pan on yellow kitchen towel fresh out of the oven.

O’Brien potatoes are just a version of diced potatoes roasted with diced green and red bell peppers and onions. The hasbrown version is just hashbrowns with the peppers and onion.

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5 simple high school writing help tips for parents

March 13, 2022 by Chris 2 Comments

Are you looking for ways to help your middle school or high school student with their writing assignments? Here are 5 simple writing assignment help tips that may be just what high schoolers and parents need.

5 simple writing assignment tips for parents photo of teen girl writing at a desk with open laptop .

Writing is a process that leads to a final product. Most students want to skip the process part and go right to the final product. I worked in a college writing lab and spent 15 years grading papers for high school writing workshop classes, so I’ve seen it all.

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Deviled crab cakes for Mardi Gras

February 13, 2022 by Chris Leave a Comment

These deviled crab cakes are better than anything you can get in a restaurant

Serve up these deviled crab cakes for Mardi Gras and let the good times roll! My family makes these deviled crab cakes on Christmas Eve as part of our main course. These delicacies are good for New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, or Mardi Gras, too.

plate full of deviled crab cakes for mardi gras appetizer

My family has been making these deviled crab cakes since at least the 1960s. I am not sure how far back this retro recipe goes. Maybe the 1950s?

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10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read: Step 10

January 18, 2022 by Chris Leave a Comment

Teach your child to read words containing vowel combinations

Remember the old rhyme “i before e, except after c, or when followed by g as in neighbor or weigh?” Vowel combinations can be tricky not only in spelling but in reading, too. The tips below will help you teach your child to read vowel combinations at home.

boy holding up a letter A flashcard while learning to read vowel sounds

When you think about it, the main difficulty with how to read words is in the vowels. Vowels and all of their sounds can make life difficult. Interesting, but difficult.

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Old fashioned gingerbread cut out cookies

December 31, 2021 by Chris Leave a Comment

These old fashioned gingerbread cookies transport you to holidays past

Old fashioned gingerbread cut out cookies, to me, are Christmas. I make these first every holiday season.

The holidays can start once I’ve baked my gingerbread cookies. This recipe makes a ton of cookies, so I have to be sure to set aside a big chunk of time for baking them.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These are such delicious cookies. The molasses and spices in these thin, crisp cookies are perfect.

This year we even ate gingerbread cookies for breakfast. Amazingly, they kept us satisfied the whole morning.

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10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read: Step 9

December 23, 2021 by Chris Leave a Comment

Teach your child to read long vowel sound words

My goal here is to provide parents with tips on how to teach their child to recognize and read long vowel sound words. In this step your child will learn to recognize when to say a vowel the long way.

Mike and Ikes A couple of great silent e words

Your child should be reading 3 letter short vowel words and 4-5 letter blends and digraph words with short vowels. See my posts on these here and here. They have been listening to the sounds in these words and have been writing down the sounds as letters.

It is important to keep practicing all of these types of words as you move forward.

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10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read: Step 8

November 24, 2021 by Chris Leave a Comment

Teach your child to read short vowel letter sound combinations called blends and digraphs

Letter sound combinations called blends and digraphs are fun to teach. In Step 8 of 10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read I will provide some simple tips for how to teach these short vowel letter sound combinations.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Like math, reading builds on skills that increase in complexity. You as the parent can “gamify” these words as much as you want so the complexity does not set up a road block. At the end of this post I list several games that have worked well for my students.

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Wild Rice Minnesota Style: A side dish for Thanksgiving dinner

November 11, 2021 by Chris Leave a Comment

Looking for a side dish to bring to Thanksgiving dinner?

Wild Rice Minnesota Style is the perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving table. This recipe is easy to make and adds just a few ingredients to the wild rice. It’s what we Minnesotans eat with our turkey, gravy, stuffing, and cranberries.

White casserole dish full of cooked Wild Rice Minnesota Style side dish on blue floral hot pads with glass lid resting nearby all on wood surface.
Yes, that is how the lid and dish look after you cook Wild Rice Minnesota Style
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Black and White About Me Photo for Alcoves Home

Welcome!  I am Chris, teacher and  mother of four almost all adult kids.  I started this blog during the global pandemic.  Very quickly I had to change with the times.   I was also forced into cooking comfort food just to keep the peace.   Read more about me here.

Recent Posts

  • Five Alive Punch for the Holidays
  • Editing: an overlooked skill to master before graduating
  • Cheesy potatoes with a twist
  • 5 simple high school writing help tips for parents
  • Deviled crab cakes for Mardi Gras

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