Love from Foodie Pen Pals!

First of all, I would like to give a huge shout out to my Foodie Pen Pal for this month - Carrie from Family, Fitness, Food - for working with me. My schedule was a bit special this month because of my spring break, when I was traveling in Virginia and not around a computer most of the week. She was great. Thanks so much, Carrie! You can check out what I sent Carrie by heading over to her blog and taking a peek!

I am always really excited when a Foodie Pen Pal box arrives. This was no exception. In fact, I was so excited that I was trying my hardest to open the box while still in the elevator heading back to my room!

Let's take a closer look at what was in the box!

First, let's admire those little jars of love. Although I haven't tried the tapenade yet, I love kalamata olives, so  I'm excited to try it! The pesto is already gone; I love pesto and rarely buy it because of the price, so this was great! I used it on rice to to make pesto rice, and I tossed the rest of the jar in some soup I made for added flavor. The soup ended up tasting like italian wedding soup. So delicious! 

Next, I was sent individual packets of all natural peanut butter (how did she know I needed peanut butter?!) and a large box of crackers to use my tapenades and pb on. These were both tasty as well! 

Lastly, she sent a nice sized bag of homemade almond butter granola! This was really, really delicious, and the bag is nearly gone. It is great with some vanilla flax milk and berries!

She also sent some postcards of where she lives - Los Angeles! - and one was a picture of the beach where she runs. How awesome is that? Thanks, Carrie, for the great package and for being such a good sport about working with me this month!

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 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. 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!

Much love,