October Foodie Penpal

We had another fantastic experience with Foodie Pen Pals this month, and while yesterday was technically reveal day, with all the chaos of Halloween, I needed an extra day to focus because this month, my foodie penpal, Heather, sent an absolute treasure of items that deserve their own dedicated post! Heather, if you are seeing this, thank you so much! Our package went out to Rebecca of Rebecca Roams this month, who wrote up a wonderful post as well. Be sure and visit!

As for our load of goodies, this is just ONE of the shipments. Heather sent a lentil soup mix, Zingerman's orange-almond brownie and peanut brittle, dill pickle peanuts, a whole roll of stickers for the kiddo, and Posole seasoning.

First of all, let me tell you that the brownie didn't even make it through the first hour day. And the peanuts.. oh my! We love our local popcorn place's dill pickle popcorn, so these hit the spot. We got some great tips on using the Posole seasoning with a turkey breast in the crockpot, so that is where it is destined, but for us, it will be an experiment with chicken breasts. Looking forward to it because the seasonings in the pack sound fantastic. We did have a couple mishaps with the shipment, and when I let Heather know, not only was she fantastic about our notes on the issue, but she sent us ANOTHER box of goodies. I'd love to tell you that we felt bad about her sending anything else, which I did/do, but when we got that next box, I could only be grateful. What a wonderful, decadent surprise!

This box came full of goodies from Dorothy Lane Market in Ohio. We got a fantastic, insanely rich and delicious box of killer brownies. We also received a loaf of purple wheat raisin bread, which we used in a teaser lunch post a bit back. Everything we received was so unique, and so thoroughly enjoyed. The brownies? Oh my.. dense, chewy, loaded with chocolate and caramel.. just sinful!

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... This is the edited version, but ALL the details can be found on their website, of course.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you, of course.

September Foodie Penpal

This is my third month that I've participated in a Foodie Penpal program from The Lean Green Bean and the last day of the each month is always 'reveal day' where we share what we received and sent. What a fabulous idea it is... sharing your favorite goodies with other people across the nation! The package I shipped out went to Florida to YouMeFit, so be sure and check out what they had to say about what we sent, and browse her fantastic blog!

Now, for my package, which came from a non-blogger, Teri, and turns out I got a Texan again! Yeah! Our package this month had a great tropical blend trail mix with fruits and nuts. Since I'm supposed to actual have snacks, this is a great thing to have accessible. It's delicious too! The other thing I got sent was not just a food find, but one to serve lots of things in from here on out. Clever to give this dip holder in a penpal program like this, because I get to enjoy it over and over, not just one time! Thanks Teri!

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... ALL the details can be found on their website, though.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you, of course.

August Foodie Penpal

This is my second month in that I've participated in a Foodie Penpal program from The Lean Green Bean and the last day of the each month is always 'reveal day' where we share what we received and sent. What a fabulous idea it is... sharing your favorite goodies with other people across the nation! The package I shipped out went to Florida to Laurie's Cravings, so be sure and check out what they had to say about what we sent. It was their second month in the program too!

Now, for my package, which came from a non-blogger, Gracie, and turns out she is from Texas, where my family is from! She had no idea when sending out my package, and it just happened that she sent a lot of HEB items and local favorites! That was a fantastic surprise for me, and made the box doubly enjoyable! We received 2 HEB My Texas Life magazines with great recipes, Sea Salt a& Cracked Black Pepper crackers, Salt Lick Salsa, Basting Oil, Chili Lime Peanuts, Coffee, Raspberry Hibiscus Tea (that we brewed cold.. kind of like Starbucks Passion Tea.. YUM), Peach Iced Tea singles (that my hubby stole and took to work with him), and fantastic tortillas made fresh at HEB.

First of all, O.M.G. that Salt Lick salsa was the best.. my hubby couldn't even wait for me to take a picture. He was diving right into the jar! I've seen Food Network shows with The Salt Lick, and now I want a perpetual running shipment of this stuff. So good with our favorite corn chip!

Another favorite was and is those crackers. I have never had something with that texture. It is a multiple grain cracker that tastes fantastic, but is so light it seems to just melt away in your mouth. Gracie said she ate hers with fresh Parmesan, so we tried ours with a fantastic sheep's milk cheese from Trader Joe's with the same sort of flavor. Wow, was she right! The combination was perfect!

While, we are continuing to enjoy all the items sent, one other I have to feature is my daughter's favorite! I'll tell you, she never ceases to amaze me on the things she likes, but in this case, I'm addicted too, so what can I say.. and that is those chili lime peanuts that I believe were her hubby's afterthought to the box! Good call, hubby! :) Here is some we had in a lunch today...

Turkey balogna, mozzarella cheese, chili lime peanuts, mini crackers, celery, carrots, red bell pepper, tzatziki dip, mini marshmallows, and fruit gummies.

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... ALL the details can be found on their website, though.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you!

In this lunch...

July Foodie Penpal

This month, I joined a Foodie Penpal program from The Lean Green Bean and the last day of the each month is always 'reveal day' where we share what we received and sent. What a fabulous idea it is... sharing your favorite goodies with other people across the nation! The package I shipped out went to New York to Gastronomic Nomad, so be sure and check out what they had to say about what we sent. It was their first month in the program too!

Since this is the first month I participated, I learned some important things just from what I received, and what made it intact! My package came from The Healthy Living Chick, and included a great variety of items. A couple didn't make it, but the ones that did were FABulous!

While, we enjoy all the items sent, I have to feature the favorites! The Zevia soda was a great surprise for me because we had just found them on sale at our local Kroger and got the Root Beer ourselves, and the Cola version was sent in our package! We are NOT pop drinkers, but it was so good! Ooh, and that Ritter Sport chocolate with almonds was crazy good. We chopped some up for on top of vanilla ice cream.. WOW!

Well, the ice cream got what was left after 'someone' sampled a bite or two...

The Archer Farms granola was breakfast this morning on some maple yogurt. Yum! I'll definitely be checking out our Target to see what other flavors are available.

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... ALL the details can be found on their website, though.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you!