Happy Thanksgiving

I’m still alive and kicking. And around here, we’re preparing for the holiday season. The past couple months have been exceedingly busy and involved classes, Halloween, and a dead computer. Now, though, things seem to be settling down and I am trying to get a hold of myself in an attempt to prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

For Thanksgiving, we’re visiting family and eating heartily. I made “Russian Tea Cakes” to take to both Big Guy’s parents and my mom’s meals. These things are delectable, delicious, and completely fattening. The recipe I follow is the same one my mom uses from Betty Crocker , with our own little differences of course. We can never make a recipe without improving it somehow.

And on Friday, we did participate in the rampant consumerism that is Black Friday, but we also got something good out of it. We ended up NOT buying at any of the major stores, for by the time we arrived, all the deals were gone. What they had left was not enough to tempt us to brave those lines. So, we went to breakfast and then went to Big Lots where there weren’t as many people and the deals were much better. While there, we did find some good gifts for Little Guy to open Christmas Morning.

For the rest of the evening, I imagine we’ll play games, watch movies, and eat pizza. And for that, I am truly thankful.

Russian Tea Cakes
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together. (If it still seems dry, cover and place in a warm spot for a few minutes. The butter will start to bind the dough together a bit more.)
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.
5. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.