2.28.2012

February Foodie Penpal

As life continues to get busy with work and grad school, I have less and less time to do fun things.  Luckily once a month I get a great box of goodies delivered to my door from another fellow food lover in the US.  I also have the excuse to go shopping for all the delicious things to put in my box.  (This month I mailed my box to Candy @ Healthy in Candyland from Ohio all the way to Washington!)   This is now my fifth month participating in the Foodie Penpal exchange.  I have to say each month has been extremely fun!!  Here are my past foodie penpals:

This month, my box was sent from Brooke @ Brooke Not On A Diet.  (She has such an inspirational story - I would recommended checking out her blog!)  I couldn't help but smile at all the stamp on the box, so I took a picture of them all. :)  She sent me some fantastic stuff from Illinois:
 

Teas:  
Brooke noticed on my last foodie penpal post that I enjoyed the tea I received from Lauren, so she sent me some, too!  She sent a chai black tea and a pomegranate raspberry green tea.  I was so excited when I saw the green tea because I am obsessed with pomegranates!

Breakfast Foods:
 Brooke sent me OatFit oatmeal in the cinnamon roll flavor.  (I personally thought this tasted much better than the Quaker brand.)  She also included a caramel apple breakfast cookie.  Now I have never heard of such a thing, but it was SO good!  My husband was so upset that I didn't save any to share with him. (It was just so good!)  I found a few recipes online, so I may try to make my own breakfast cookies now...we will see how it goes.

3-2-1 Cake Mix:
This is another delicious treat that I had never had before.  It is a cake mix that you can make it a coffee cup!  It is great for evenings when you just want a little something sweet.  My husband and I have enjoyed making a (coffee)"cup" cake to eat while watching our TV shows.

Other items included:
Single Serve Popcorn (I love popcorn!)
Asian Toasted Sesame salad dressing - I am normally very picky with salad dressings, but this was delicious.  I am hoping to use this to make an Asian chicken salad like Applebee's. (Sorry, it got cut out of the picture.)
Strawberry Fruit Strips - These worked great as a snack in between work and night classes.
Toasted Coconut Dream bar - Tasted similar to a Girl Scout Samoa cookie.
Dark Chocolate Hazelnut bar - Another snack between work and class.  I liked these so much that I am planning to go buy more :)
Milk Chocolate with Raspberry marshmallow Peep = YUM...do I really need to say more?  ;)
Two fitness magazines!


 Thanks again, Brooke, for sending all this wonderful food!!

Foodie Penpals
And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of 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
-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 Penpals 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!

3 comments:

  1. love the idea of that cake mix!!! so easy and so fun!

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  2. First up, hello I love your blog. I'm brand new to reading it but I love your set-up. I heart travel. Second up, what a fun box! I'm totally digging the 3-2-1 cake! Cute!!

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    1. Hi Andrea!
      I'm really glad to hear you enjoy my blog! It sounds like we share a love for food and travel. :)
      Also, the 3-2-1cake is delicious.
      Rachel

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