August Foodie Penpal Reveal

It’s time for yet another Foodie Penpal reveal!  Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean created this program last September to link foodies from around the world.  On the 5th of the month, each participant is assigned a penpal to send a box of goodies to, and is assigned a different penpal from whom he or she will receive a foodie box.

This month I was paired to receive a box from Anika from Dogs, Dishes, and Decor.  I love finding new blogs through Foodie Pen Pal and Anika did not disappoint.  She’s funny, posts great recipes, has rescue dogs, and does backbends in heels!  We have some things in common:  we both love Trader Joe’s, as evidenced by the box I received, and we love football.  One major difference is that I’m an Ohio State fan and she’s a Michigan fan = MAJOR RIVALS.

I’m not one of those people who dislike others based on their team or the college they went to, so I think we could be friends on every day except for the Saturday after Thanksgiving.   She must be the same, because she didn’t send me a box of dog poo, for which I’m very grateful.  Instead, she sent me an amazing box of gluten-free goodies – and check out this card that she made!  As someone who writes/draws like a 3rd grader, I think it’s awesome!

And on to the goodies:

• Trader Joes Movie Theater Popcorn – I’ve never had this and am looking forward to trying it.  I just haven’t had a good opportunity to open it since our Sunday Night Movie friends are in Fla. for a month.
• Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix – I’ve so far refrained from buying this mix in moments of self-discipline (which usually disintegrate further into the shopping trip), but I’ve heard they are amazing.  I’m really excited to make these (maybe for a Labor Day picnic this weekend) or I’ll save them for tailgating.
• Himalayan Pink Sea Salt Grinder – This is the salt that I usually buy and I had just run out the night before.  I was so glad to have this because I thought I was going to have to use table salt!  The horror!
• Raspberries in Dark Chocolate Bar – Does it look like the wrapper is weird and crushed?  It’s not…I had to taste it before I managed to get a picture (where was that self-discipline then?!).  I tried to fix the wrapper to make it look like I hadn’t dove right in, but I gave up.  I love dark chocolate and have never had a bar with raspberries in it.  I really liked it because the raspberries tasted natural and not like weird fruit creme that is sometimes in the middle of chocolate bars.
• Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bar Caramel with Black Sea Salt – It’s shocking that I tasted the raspberry bar before this one, but if I remember correctly, I refrained because I wanted to open it when our friends were over for dinner.  We ended up having amazing gluten-free cupcakes and other sweets left over from my birthday and ate those instead.  And I just forgot to open it when they came over for dinner a few nights later.  Sorry Kelley (Chuck doesn’t like dark chocolate, so he wouldn’t care) – but I decided I had to try it before posting about the box.  I opened it tonight and took a little piece and LOVED it.  I love salty caramel and sea salt + chocolate, so this was perfect.  I had another piece and then I gave Lo a little piece, and then I had another piece.  And a tiny corner that broke off.  Shockingly, there’s still a half bar left (don’t worry, I technically did 3 workouts today: tabata lifting +running for 15 minutes, 80 minute hot yoga, and the another 15-20 minutes running).  Lo better get another piece because I suspect it will be gone once I get home from yoga tomorrow.

I was thrilled with this box.  Thank you Anika!

I was assigned to send a box to Brittany at BBB Fit & Healthy.  Brittany is a clean eating machine who is currently doing a Hot Body Challenge where she eats no extra sugar (other than stevia), so I tried to mostly send stuff that would work with her plan (or that she could save for a treat after the Challenge is up.  Check her out here!

Wanna play?

-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 September, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

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

Check out my June Foodie Penpal and my July Foodie Penpal reveal posts.