March Foodie Pen Pal

 

 

    March Came in like a lion, roared most of the month and then in the last few days left as a lamb. My box from my Foodie Pen Pal, Katie from running4cupcakes, helped get me through all those extra "lion"days. I love getting my boxes from all over the United States and this month Katie sent me surprises from Minnesota! My Hubby really began to embrace the FPP this month. At first he conspiricy theories that people might send us things they had poisoned. Now I can't keep him out of the box long enough to get home from work! This time I barely made it home before he started taste testing for me. Everyone got in on this box. I even shared with the kids!

 

 

 

 

•  Angie's Kettle Korn is my new obsession. Seriously. It is that good. I got on their website and found out where they sell it locally. I have only found it at one store and they didn't even have the Politely Sweet & Spicy flavored. I want to be adventurous and try the other flavors but this is AMAZING! And at $5 a bag here I would be adventurous and broke. Katie said that it is made near her in MN. If it is cheaper and easier to find I may have to move to Minnesota...



• Trader Joe's Peanut butter Pretzels were great! We don't have a TJ's around these parts so it is fun getting things from there. A lot of peanut butter snacks are overpoweringly peanut butter but these were not. They were just right. Since we went all over town for my Kettle Korn; Madison wanted me to find out where to buy more of these. When I told her that they are only sold at Trader Joe's she suggested having Katie send some each month for her. We had fun dissecting them to get the peanut butter out of the hollow pretzel.

• The Goldfish weren't just any Goldfish...they were CUPCAKE FLAVORED! They even have tiny rainbow flecks, just like the confetti cake. I may get some of these when I do my Rainbow Fish lesson at preschool. I found these at the store locally and there is an entire dessert line of Goldfish. I now have s'more flavored Goldfish crackers for my snack at preschool.

• This small Trader Joe's chocolate bar was like heaven with a cookie. I had a piece of it before bed. When I woke up there was more missing than I had remembered eating. Remember the Hubby with the conspiracy theories? He tried it and couldn't help himself. "I felt so guilty but you were asleep and it was so good! I tried to take little bites but I couldn't stop." That is totally a valid argument. I split the rest with him because I do love him that much on a good day. ;o) 

 

• Justin's Hazelnut Butter was delicious on my apple and banana at snack time. I had seen this on other blogs but this was my first time trying it. Easily portable in my lunchbox that I stole  borrow from my girls. Katie said it is perfect on anything or just to eat off a spoon. It would be wasteful not to lick off whatever you used to spread it.



 

• The LaffyTaffy was as fun to read as it was to eat. The girls had to read us the jokes before they could eat one. We all had a few laughs, learned a few new jokes and we were able to keep track of how many candies the kids were trying to eat. Fun and evil responsible parenting all at once!

 

• Mt goodie bars. Oh My Yum! Chocolate then peanut butter then chocolate and peanuts! WHAT!?! I know. Delish! These were gone pretty fast. FYI: The picture only shows the first layer of goodie bars. There are seconds under what you see. Oh My Yum x 2!

 

    I really, really enjoyed my Foodie Pen Pal box from Katie this month. Now I am going to go run because like Katie says, "I run to eat". I probably use the word "run" more loosely than her however. If the pace picks up to a jog at all during the time I am briskly walking I have gone on a run. Now that the weather is lamb like I can get my woolly tail out an do some running! 

 



January Foodie Pen Pal

My January Foodie Pen Pal is from Southern Florida! The other side of the country! Wanna see what Jonathan sent me?

Yep. Some sunshine in a box.

There were more oranges but they didn't last long once the box was opened. So juicy!

The grapefruit made for a good breakfast. I like a little sugar sprinkled on top; my mom liked salt sprinkled on top of hers. Not sure about that. What is your opinion? Salt or sugar on a grapefruit?

The mango nectar was delicious! It was like eating an mango without all the chewing. It was so thick and tasted so fresh.

I use a lot of Walla Walla Sweet Onions for obvious reasons so I was excited to get an onion I wouldn't usually go for at the grocery store. Which led me on a hunt for what I could do with it besides just make it into sandwich toppings. Which led me to this French Onion Soup Recipe...



Which leads me to believe I'll need to get a few more onions...

I love cilantro and never seem to have any when I need it. My cilantro plant died this summer leaving me cilantro-less. Now, thanks to Jonathan, I can have my cilantro any time. Mmmm...just the smell of cilantro is so refreshing. And it always brings back memories of when I was in grade school and I used to spend a week with my aunt and uncle in Everett during the summer. She had a garden with a cilantro plant and every time we played in the back yard it smelled like cilantro.

The rosemary can be used in anything! I threw some in some Stone Soup we made at Preschool last week; it was just what it needed. Flavor.

The tea is probably the best tea I have ever had. It is Lipton's Vanilla Caramel Truffle Black Tea. It is sweet enough not to have to sweeten but is isn't yucky sweet. I could drink this all day long. Even the bag is awesome; it is shaped like a pyramid! The geometric 3-D shape surely adds to the tastiness of the tea.

Jonathan also sent me a recipe for Strawberry Pretzel Squares. It looks so good! I have a family brunch coming up that I think I will make the Strawberry Pretzel Squares for. It looks like the perfect marriage of salty and sweet, crunchy and soft. Don't worry I will brag blog about it and show off pictures.

 It was fun learning about Florida and a little bit about you. Thanks for the fantastic food Jonathan!
God Bless!

November Foodie Pen Pal

   My real-life friend, Leila, has blog called Spinach and Skittles that I follow. She has been participating in something called Foodie Pen Pals and it looked like fun. She was posting about boxes of yummy food people were sending her through FPP. I decided to give it a try this month. I mean who wouldn't like getting a box of presents? And then when you open it, it is filled with food! Delicious food that someone has hand picked as a special treat just for you!
Yes please.

   So I signed up for it and gathered my foods from around Walla Walla and sent my package off to Debbie in California.

   But then came the day that I had been waiting for. I got my first box of food! All the way from Boston! And it was everything I had been dreaming of!

   Emily from Stay Happy Stay Healthy was my Foodie Pen Pal this month. She is so sweet! She looked up Walla Walla and when realizing we didn't have a Trader Joe's near by went and hooked be up with some of her Trader Joe favorites. She didn't realize I have never been inside a Trader Joe's before. It was so cool to get a taste of what everyone else has been talking about and it was even better because Emily was my personal shopper. I love how she attached a cute little note to everything to tell me a little about how she uses the food.
   The Pumpkin Pie Spice was the first thing I tried. I put some in with my coffee and had a homemade pumpkin spice latte. Here is the recipe, Emily. Now you have another recipe for your pumpkin pie spice that is oh-so-good. Emily gave me her Pumpkin Pie Granola recipe which uses pumpkin pie spice of course. AND she sent along a bag of her homemade Pumpkin Pie Granola! I am not exaggerating when I say this is the best granola that I have EVER tasted! I have not made granola before but I enjoy buying the bags of granola from the old ladies at the farmer's market. Not only did she give me the best granola recipe; she gave me suggested substitution that turns the recipe into Vanilla Cookie Granola. WHAT! I can't wait to get my granola baking on!
   The Trader Joe's Spicy Black Bean Dip is delicious and rather addicting. I had some with chips. I probably could have just dipped my finger in because it is so good though. Emily said she also eats it with eggs or tuna. Oh My! I think a tuna fish and black bean sandwich is in my near future. I would have never thought to put this combo in a sandwich but I am going to trust Emily. Obviously she has amazing taste buds!
   Like Emily said, "This dark chocolate is to die for!" I love chocolate, but not the kind that is over processed and tastes similar to probably eating plastic. This only has 5 ingredients and doesn't have the yucky processing after taste. Only chocolate. Because it's dark chocolate it must be good for me, right? I took a stash for at work. It's a good thing too. I've needed a happy place the last few days. But that's why I love teaching. Never a dull moment. Funny thing though...Emily puts the chocolate in yogurt but mine always disappears before I can get it into the yogurt.
    My little family and I spent the day before Thanksgiving at some close friends' house making cookies. The kids had so much fun with the cookie cutters. I especially though the brown gingerbread leaves were especially festive for Autumn.
   I am sitting here writing on this crisp fall morning while I warm up with the Prince of Peace Green Tea. I stirred in a bit of local honey for sweetness and I have a cup of warm bliss. What a wonderful way to start out my day. I am savoring the last sip of my tea and my peace because it is that time of day where school morning chaos begins.

Thank you Emily!

Lindsey from The Lean Green Bean and who runs FPP is doing something special next month's FPP

 

Instead of exchanging boxes; everyone gives what they would have spent on the box of food for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Come on, you know you want to join!