January Foodie Penpal Reveal

I am a little late posting this as I was debating what I wanted to do as I have the unfortunate experience of being one of those participants who foodie penpal went MIA and unfortunately did not receive a package this month. I just have to say that it was not a pleasant experience knowing that I worked hard to put together a package for my foodie penpal and then did not get the joy that usually accompanies this program, you know the feeling like when it's christmas and you get to open all your presents. I will say this was of absolutely not fault but my foodie penpals. Lindsay did what she could to try and get in touch with them but like me had no luck. So Since I have no reveal and Amy who I sent a package to does not have a blog I am going to share her thoughts on her package. I hope that is allowed.

Amy was fantastic, when I emailed her asking about her diet and likes/dislikes she got right back to me. She told me she and her family try very hard to adhere to being vegan. I am not vegan and had never put together a vegan but I took this challenge and made it my mission to make sure everything fit within her life style. She was even nice enough to get her package a little bit later than usual as I was away until January 17th but made sure she got it within plenty of time.

Here is what she had to say about it:

Thank you so much for the box of delicious food.  I'm eating some dark chocolate as I write this.  We have had so much fun trying new things.  My kids (I have 7 children ages 7 mo - 12) were enthralled with the coconut and plantains.  They were curious about the seaweed and had fun trying to get each other to eat it.  Today for lunch I broke out the chips and salsa.  I have never had tomato-free salsa and I must say, we all loved it!  Especially my husband.  This is a high compliment coming from him.  He grows heirloom tomatoes and we've lived in Mexico off and on over the years so he is picky about his salsa.  It was delicious.  We have enjoyed everything. 

Your thoughtfulness did not go unnoticed by my daughter Hannah who commented, with delight, "We can eat all this stuff.  It's all vegan, isn't it!"  I must admit I plucked out the chocolate and the kids don't know it was ever in there.  Just a little something for mommy. :)

I love Trader Joe's.  I lived in Ohio and would drive an hour to Cincinnati to shop.  We just got one in Utah and, again, it's an hour drive.  I haven't made the trek but your box of goodies have tempted me to make it a priority.

Thanks again, Alyson.  You made this such an enjoyable experience from your first upbeat, inquisitive email to this gorgeous box of food. 

Your friend,

Amy

I was so thrilled that not only Amy enjoyed it but that she also got to share it with her family. This is what Foodie penpals is usually like and I can't wait for February's package! Here is the info for those of you that would like to take part in March's program:

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!

*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE to signup.

Hope you go out and find your own adventure,
Aly

June Foodie Penpal Reveal!

So it is that time again to reveal my June foodie penpal package! I have to give a big shout out to Jillian, she put together a very yummy package for me. Be sure to check her blog out as well and see what she is up to! And of course a big thanks to Lindsay over at The Lean Green bean for putting this whole program together.

I am not even sure where to begin. Well I guess I have to say that on the day my package was delivered it was 90+ degrees outside and there was no one home to bring the package in so it was in the heat. When I saw it sitting on the stairs my first though was "Oh I hope there was nothing melt able in there." You see I told Jillian how much I love chocolate so I was sure there probably was. So I think that is where I will start, she sent me two different kinds of chocolate!!

The first being a new flavor of candy bar from Ghirardelli, cookies jubilee. It was absolutely delicious in fact I am ashamed to admit I ate it all in the same sitting. The second being some chocolates made by Quality Streets direct from Ireland! They were just as delicious! And I got the added bonus of being able to tell my friends from Ireland all about receiving them at which point they almost knocked me down trying to find out where they were and where I had gotten them from. I guess they are very popular even in Ireland! Even though I had to put them in the fridge for a while to solidify before I could eat them they were still all well worth the wait! 

This was the one all chocolate thing she sent me that did not melt however the irony is that it was so hot there was no way I was making hot chocolate. I can't wait to try it though because it sounds simply divine!

Then I noticed this cute little green with white polka dots box and when I opened it I was delighted to find Flour-less peanut butter cookies. They were so good I did not believe they were flour-less. I actually had to stop myself before I ate them all. However Jillian was almost awesome enough to add chocolate chips to them as well which made them even better. She was nice enough to send me the recipe via email and I have already made my own batch that are gone as well. So delicious!!

Keeping right in track with the peanut butter theme she also sent me three different kinds of nut butter from Justin's. They certainly added a lot of variety to my breakfast every morning. I have to say the chocolate hazelnut butter was probably my favorite but no one reading this should really be surprised by that at this point. haha!

Jillian also sent my some of Annie's snack mix which is so yummy. I brought the box to work and leave it my classroom cabinet so that I have it on hand for when I need a little snack. Mind you at this point there really isn't much left! :)

This leads me to the last things in my package. I have to admit that these bars are something that disappointed me as this is the second time within my four months of being in foodie penpals that I have write to my foodie penpal telling them I do not like nuts and have gotten bars that have nuts in them. I understand that finding bars that do not have nuts is quite difficult as I have done the searching for myself but it is still disappointing none the less to get something you do not like. I have to admit that I will give the Odwalla bar a try as you never know if their might be that one thing that makes nuts ok to me. But both Lara bars I had gotten in April and expressed my dislike for them so I did not try them again and the cliff bar I have had before and walnuts just aren't for me. 

Other than the nuts this package was delicious! I was thrilled to get a bunch of new things to try and an amazing new recipe to be able to make for all my friends even the ones with gluten allergies! So thank you again Jillian!!

So here comes the fun part for those of you who would like to get in on all this Foodie Penpals fun find out how right now!

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 

-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

May Foodie Penpal Reveal!

I have to start by thanking my foodie penpal Julianna! She did a fantastic job of putting together a package that stayed away from things I do not like, giving me things that are my favorite and including some of her favorites too. Please check out her blog and see what she is up to over there in California!!

I seem to always get my package on Thursdays when I have to come home from work, change and run out again so I didn't get to explore my package right away but I couldn't wait to get back so I could!

The first thing that immidiately caught my eye was the pop chips!

As you can see I couldn't even wait to take a picture before I opened them and tried them. They are really good and I was surprised just how much better they are for you than regular potato chips. Not they are healthy but if your going to eat chips anyway theses are the ones to eat, they are delicious. My husband who is a snack guy tried them too and he really liked them. I think I found a new snack for him.

The next two things that I was super excited about where the chocolate bars because I love chocolate!

The dove is already long gone. I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate but I am slowly starting to get an acquired taste for it. I am huge into baking and trying new things so I am sure I will use it in my next baking experiment.

I was very excited to see dried mango!

I had gotten them in my first foodie penpal box and found that I really like them! She also sent me some freeze dried apples from archer farms. They were delicious I always find it interesting how much they taste just like a juicy apple.

Julianna also sent me two Luna bars.

 I have never had either one of these. So of course I tried the S'mores one first! It was delicious and gave me just the right amount of energy when I ate it with a banana before my very first step class! I am looking forward to trying the Lemon Zest one too. I love to have things handy for on the go snacks!

Which brings me to my next two things. She gave me a package of Justin's All-Natural Honey peanut butter and Nature Valley's Granola thins that are dark chocolate and peanut butter, YUM!!

I used Justin's with my breakfast on a 100% whole wheat english muffin with cut bananas. It was amazingly good and it kept me full until lunch!

The granola thins are a great little snack to be able to grab on my way out the door as I am constantly heading somewhere! I like to added them to my lunch as well!

So as you can see this was a fantastic foodie penpal month and I can't thank Julianna enough for all my great goodies. I also want to thank Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean for putting this whole foodie penpals program together and all the hard work you put into it to make it go so smoothly for us!

If you would like to join us for June's foodie penpals here is all the info you will need to sign up!
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 
If you’re interested in participating for June, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by June 4th as pairings will be emailed on June 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

Foodie Heaven!

So I was just surfing the net one night through twitter of all things. I came across a blog someone had written about a Foodie Penpal. Well I thought 'are you kidding there is such a thing as someone basically being your penpal but sends you food, I think this is going to be amazing.' I looked into the program and found out that anyone can be a part of this. but get this I found it on February 4th and they give out the pairings on the 5th but lucky for me I slipped in just in time. (If you are interested in the program all the info is at the end)

We got our pairings on Sunday February 5th. I was paired with Kelly from NY (Ironic since the Superbowl was that day and we were playing the NY Giants). The person who got me was Alexandria from Illinois. I was super excited and couldn't wait to get started. After a day or two I got an email from Alexandria asking for my address of course and if I had any dietary restrictions and if there was anything that I really liked or really didn't like. For those of you who know me know the list of things I like is probably shorter than what I don't like so I had to be methodical about this. I said I had no dietary restrictions but that I really didn't like anything with nuts or anything spicy, as in I don't even like to use pepper on my food. I sent my email off and now started the waiting game of receiving my package!

Now just a little side note about Kelly (who I was sending food to). We were both first time Foodie Penpals so it was fun to go through the experience together. We actually hit it off and have become email penpals in a sense! :-) She is actually a blog reader so I offered to post a guest post for her which will be included a little later on.

So I was very excited to have received my package yesterday! It didn't give me a lot of time to try it but hey I think I did pretty good for 24 hours.

One of the things I was most excited about in doing this whole foodie penpals program is that I really wanted to expose myself to new foods and figured what better way to do it than to have someone send you food items that you most likely have not had before. I am happy to say that there was nothing in my package that I had tried before so I very happy about that!!

I do better with lists so I am go to list what was in my package.
1.) Double chocolate chunk organic granola
2,) Chai Spice organic hot cereal
3.) Chocolate chip cliff bar
4.) Oven-Dried Mango
5.) Feng Shui organic rice crackers
6.) Chai green tea
7.) Dark chocolate candy bar with freeze dried raspberries
8.) Gluten-Free organic chocolate chip cookies

So of all this amazing stuff I have gotten to try everything except that chai spice hot cereal, chai green tea, candy bar and cliff bar. I have plans for them all in the comings days though.

Everything else has been tried and enjoyed. I discovered that the double chocolate granola is delicious in my yogurt, YUM! The dried mango was better than I expected. I am not a big fan of mango in general but dried mango is a little sweeter and was a nice add to my trail mix as a snack. The rice crackers were just something I tried tonight because I found them interesting. The flavor is mild and I think they would be better if I treated them as an actual cracker and ate them with something else like cheese or something of that nature. The thing that I was most excited about was the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and I promise it wasn't for the obvious reason of them being cookies.

I am a pre-kindergarten teacher and one of the children in my class has been having a lot of issues as far as determining her allergies and her mom decided to take matters into her own hands and started trying different things and as it turns out she seems to have a reaction to gluten as well as milk & eggs. All of which these cookies did not contain. I was able to bring them to school today and she got to share them with me and have a little treat. It was so great to be able to share something with her when recently she hasn't been able to have much at school because of her new diet. Her mother was also very happy that she really like the cookies and took all the info on the brand. I though that was an amazing extention of the Foodie Penpals program!!

I also can't thank Alexandria enough for taking my dislikes into account and of course her lovely hand written card that she included. Everything was just great!

 In the end it was a great expierence, so much fun shopping for someone else as well and getting to hear their feedback! I can't wait to do it again next month!
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Post from Kelly!

I am ecstatic about my first Foodie Pen Pal experience. I was lucky enough to have Aly send me a fantastic package of goodies which included the following: 

 

- Trader Joe's Smoky and Spicy Peach Salsa-which I am loving with my homemade quesadillas, and on the multigrain chips that came in my package as well.

 - Single Serve Freeze Dried Apples-My first experience with freeze dried fruit and I am a fan!

- Aly's Homemade Trail Mix with Various Kashi cereals and dried fruit (which she makes in her dehydrator!)

- Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Orange Sticks-Such a good sweet treat, my hubby loved these too

- 2 different types of Granola bars which I still have yet to try. 

- Last but not least some of her homemade fruit leather.

And of course a lovely handwritten note on Vera Bradley (squee, my fav!) stationary.

 

I am not too picky but I did mention that I follow the WW plan and like to eat healthy and clean and Aly took that, ran with it and sent me an incredibly enjoyable package of food!

  

I am glad to have started participating in the program and am so excited about next month!

I am even happier to have found a new buddy that I can swap food/fitness and life ideas with.

Thanks Aly!!!!

-Kel

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If you would like to join us in all this fun here is a little more info!

And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals. Here’s what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! (Only if you are a blogger)
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I'm going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for March, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
-WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. - this is SUPER important so you get on the right list!

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!

***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don''t....please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we're trying to avoid that!