Check Out Thrifty Jinxy's Holiday Gift Guide & Giveaway

I apologize that I haven't been keeping up with Thrifty Minnesota lately. The reason is that I have been super busy preparing for Thrifty Jinxy's Holiday Gift Guide & Giveaway. Come on over and check it out and enter to win lots of great prizes! There will be over 25 giveaways in all.

Russian Tea Cakes Recipe - Yummy & Buttery

This recipe is for my sister's FAVORITE Christmas Cookie. She has to have these every year or it's just not Christmas!

Russian Tea Cakes

1 C butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C chopped walnuts
1/3 C confectioners' sugar for top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Mix together the Tbsp confectioners' sugar and flour, then stir it into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place them 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Once cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar.

Win a Chance to Sleep & Shop at the Mall of America!

For many, heading out to Mall of America the day after Thanksgiving is an annual tradition.

Instead of bundling up in the wee hours of the morning and driving to the Mall, you can enter to win a chance to camp out in comfort the night before.

Mall of America is giving five lucky winners the opportunity to sleep overnight in the Mall's Green House on Thanksgiving night. The five winners will be allowed to bring along one friend. The next morning, they will be treated to a breakfast with KARE 11's Jeff Olsen.

The five winners will also receive special gift bags with all sorts of suprises. And, of course, they will be the first shoppers in the Mall, Friday morning before the doors open to the public at 6:00 a.m.! Please note that you must be 18 years of age to enter.

Fill out the form on the Kare11 web site to be entered to win.

Find the Cheapest Gas in Your Area

I added a new feature here at Thrifty Minnesota. If you look over in the right side bar, below the "Thrifty Jinxy" button, there is a widget from GasBuddy.com that will show the cheapest gas in your area! (It also scrolls through other local deals, so you might have to wait a few seconds to see the gas price.) It's nice that gas prices have gone down so much in the last month, but it's still BETTER to get the cheapest price.

Win a Year of Groceries or a Trip to L.A.

From Kare11: To celebrate the launch of our their web site, MomsLikeMe.com, devoted to all things Mom, is giving away some fabulous prizes!

*One year's worth of free groceries and delivery from CobornsDelivers

*One $2000 gift card from Schneiderman's Furniture to celebrate their 60th anniversary

*A trip to LA to see the NBC show "The Doctors", courtesy of nwaWorldVacations.

Winners will be drawn on Thursday, Nov. 20th.

Click here to enter. Good luck!

FREE Cake Tasting at Cold Stone Creamery

On Saturday, November 8th, Cold Stone Creamery locations in the Twin Cities and Hudson, WI are having a FREE cake tasting event. They will also be having these one day specials:

• 20 for any Large Round Cake.


• 20% OFF any Love It™ or Gotta Have It™ Signature Creation™


• 20¢ Kids Single Scoop Cone with additional purchase of Love It™ size or larger Signature Creation™


• 20¢ Plain Waffle Cone with purchase of Like It™ size or larger Signature Creation™.
  

Only valid 11/08/2008 at Twin Cities and Hudson, WI locations. No coupon necessary.

$5 Movies at Marcus Theatres

If you sign up for the Marcus Theaters e-mail list, they will send you a coupon each week for $5 movies on Wednesdays. Sign up here.

FANTASTIC Deals at Cub This Week

Wow - Cub really has some great deals this week! They are all centered around their promotion of buying $30 of selected items and receiving 3 $5 coupons that can be used on your next shopping order at Cub. Many items end up being free or at least very cheap after coupons. This is what I got this afternoon:

3 Betty Crocker Brownie Mixes
3 Boxes Betty Crocker Potatoes
2 Boxes Cheerios
Romano's Macaroni Grill Dinner Kit
Knorr Noodles with Vegetables
2 Cans Progresso Soup
2 Boxes Green Giant Vegetables
Bag of Green Giant Vegetables
Dove Shampoo

The total of the items before coupons was exactly $30, but after coupons the total came down to $19.14, less the $15 coupons for next purchase (which I consider as good as cash) for a final total of $4.14!

Many coupons for this deal can be printed online. Click on the coupon printer at the right to get coupons for the Betty Crocker products. Print a $1.10 off one can of Progresso coupon here. If you need help with some of the other deal combinations, drop me a line! (Either post a comment or by e-mail.)

Print Gold 'n Plump Chicken Coupons Online

Gold'n Plump® chicken has two $1.50 coupons for deli chicken that can be printed online. One is for Premium deli fresh 8-piece chicken in a handy take-out box and the other is for Premium deli fresh whole rotisserie chicken available in 6 great flavors. The coupons must be printed by 11/16/08. Click here to print.