October Foodie Penpals

It’s that time again! Foodie Penpals reveal day 🙂 It’s like getting to relive the excitement of getting your own box all over again by seeing what everyone else got!

This month I was lucky enough to get my box from one of my best foodie friends, Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen! If you aren’t familiar with Sarah and her blog, I’m sure you’ll be racing to check it out by the end of this post. The girl is amazing. Her culinary imagination never fails to impress me and I seriously look forward to reading her blog every.single.day. Plus, she lives in Austin which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much the best foodie city ever and she gets to participate in all sorts of amazing events. AND she has an amazing job and gets to try all sorts of fun foodie products. All of these things combined make her both an amazing person, and an amazing foodie penpals partner 🙂

Let’s take a peek at what she sent me, shall we? Oh, and might I add that she somehow timed her box delivery so that it perfectly coincided with my longest day stretch of days so far this quarter where I did nothing but study for a huge midterm for approximately 4 days. After I took the test, I came home exhausted, starving and crabby…and look what was waiting for me!

I mean, how cute is that for the outside of a box?! After I spent a few minutes figuring out the best way to open the box AND preserve the frog sticker, I got to check out the goodies inside.

Helloooooooo deliciousness!

-Homemade granola- delicious on my oatmeal yogurt bowls. I’m not sure I’ve ever even had a fig prior to tasting this stuff!

-Pomegranate salsa- amazing with my favorite chips! Totally unique flavor.

-Homemade nut butter- tastes like Christmas in a jar. Seriously. Best ever.

-Dark chocolate & pomegranate…for the win! Love it. I’ve been nibbling away on this little guy every night 🙂

-Homemade (S)ara(h) bars. How cute are her labels?! These were awesome. Definitely a flavor combo I would never have tried on my own.

-If you read my blog you’ll know I already blogged about these. THEY ARE SO GOOD. I didn’t even know I liked chai until I tasted these. It’s like she knows me better than I know myself. I literally could not stop eating these!

So, if you can’t tell, I was just slightly thrilled with my box this month. Whoever gets me next month has some big shoes to fill 😉

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. *US Residents only please at this time- hopefully we can expand soon!*

If you’re interested in participating for November, please send me an email at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)

I will need to hear from you by November 4th as pairings will be emailed on November 5th!

Last month we more than doubled the number of participants from the first month. Let’s keep growing!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–