Happy Halloween, friends! I'm excited to show off some pictures of my little goblin {no, she's not actually dressing up as a "goblin} & fill you in on her first Halloween experience! But, today's blog post is dedicated to my 3rd edition of foodie penpals, put on by the amazing Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean! Seriously, if you haven't checked her blog out yet, shame on YOU {shaking finger at you}. Take some time & check her out...or else I'll set the Ghosts & Goblins out to find you!
Enough with the "threats" & on to the TREATS :)
This month, I was lucky enough to receive my package from Valerie over at Pursuit of Sweetness! She has some amazing, drool-worthy recipes on her blog...and she's totally sweet!
Valerie sent me some of her favorite Virginia snacks & foods:
- Reginald's Peanut Butter: She had me at peanut butter :) I love PB & this was made with homemade Virginia peanuts! I've been eating this stuff...well, um, straight out of the jar. It's delish! And, there are other flavors: Apple Sin, Bourbon Pecan, Double Chocolate Chunk...seriously, I think I'm gaining weight just thinking about such delicious-ness!
- Queen Bee Honey: Unfortunately, this little gem didn't make the journey in one piece. I love honey, so I may have licked certain items from the box that were drenched in said honey...don't judge! What I tasted was sweet & it had me wanting more!
- Route 11 Chips: Valerie sent me two bags of chips. One was Sweet Potato...a girl after my own heart :) And, they were delicious. And, a bag of Chesapeake Crab...OH.MY.WORD. these were to.freakin'.die.for! I ate the bag in about .4 seconds...again, don't judge :) They were crispy & spicy & totally amazing!
- Penzey's Cocoa Powder: I adore cocoa...well, chocolate in general so I'm excited to have some good cocoa in my pantry! I've made myself several cups of hot cocoa & will definitely be using this during the Holiday season for baking some yummy treats!
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the amazing package full of yummy treats!!
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I was lucky enough to send some treats to Tracy. Since she's a fellow blog reader, she sent me a little write up about what I sent.
Tracy's write up:
This was my first month being a “Foodie Penpal” and I had no idea how exciting it would be. The box of goodies I received from Leah was like opening a long-awaited birthday present- a very, very yummy birthday present.
Leah did an amazing job of picking out goodies for me that I loved, and even more awesome was the fact that almost all of the things in the box were new to me... AND Leah made her first trip to Trader Joe’s along the way. ;-o
Here’s what was in “the box”:
· Powerberries: wildly addictive and not too sweet, these were fruit juice bits (acai, pomegranate, cranberry, and blueberry) covered in dark chocolate. I’m usually not one to mix my chocolate with fruit, but these little things were WICKED good.
· Organic fruit wraps and fruit/ yogurt gummies. Both were tasty treats and were much appreciated over the course of several late afternoons at work.
· Green tea mints: who knew that a mint that tasted like tea could be so refreshing?
· Assorted teas and coffees: Without even a hint, Leah hit this one on the nose and sent me some of my favorites. (How does she do it?)
· Pumpkin bread/ muffin mix: I made this over the weekend (I added a small handful of semi-sweet CCs), and it is hands-down one of the best mixes I’ve ever tried. Not too pumpkin-y, not too pumpkin spice-y, and perfectly moist.
· Pumpkin butter: I tried this last night on “Suzie’s” crackers with fresh, homemade goat cheese and almost fell off my chair. I’m not sure why I’ve never had pumpkin butter before, but I’m thankful it has found a way into my kitchen.
Many thanks to Leah (and her crazily accurate foodie intuition) for being the best, FIRST foodie penpal a girl could have!!
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Jealous and want to join?? Here's how:
What is the program 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 & get their mailing address & any other information you might need such as allergy 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; the possibilities are endless!
- You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size & 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 & 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 the month.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian residents will be paired with other Canadian residents ONLY. We've determined things might get too slow & backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from the US to Canada & vice versa.
If you are interested in participating for November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form & to read the terms & conditions.
You must submit your information by November 4th as pairings will be emailed on November 5th.
