This is the 2nd month that I’ve participated in the Lean Green Bean’s Foodie Penpal program. It’s an absolute blast. Here’s a quick rundown of how it goes:

1. On the 5th of the month, you receive your penpal – who you’re mailing your goodies too.
2. You have until the 15th of the month to buy and mail your goodies (limit of spending is $15, not including postage). You box must also include something written.
3. Bloggers write a review and post at the end of the month.

My pen pal, Sofia, writes often in her blog, Rawsplendent. Her package safely arrived all the way from an island off the state of Washington. It arrived last Saturday and was wrapped beautifully. The boys were also hovering over me while I began to take my package apart, to see if there were any goodies in there for them 🙂

Many of the items in my box centered around chocolate and chiles – two of my favorite flavors! Here’s a rundown of the goodies:

• Mexican “Power Wraps”
• dark chocolate Kisses
• Truvia packets
• Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut tea
• Quinoa (yum)
• Locally made salsa – SO SPICY! My husband and I ate this for several evenings atop nachos. It made our noses run with the heat, but it was addictive and much enjoyed!
• Chocolate mole sunflower seeds
• Dagoba Organic “Xocolatl” dark chocolate bar (with chiles & cocoa nibs) – I’m so excited to eat this
• Vegan Penne & Cheese
• homemade plum & banana fruit leather – my husband loved these!
• A sample of Dagoba drinking chocolate. This is fantastic in coffee,which Sofia recommended I try (in her handwritten note). The container came open during shipping and thus everything got a slight coating in chocolate! This made for a wonderfully smelling package and I couldn’t stop licking my fingers 🙂

So, thank you, Sofia, for the wonderful package! Everything is absolutely great and I’ve been enjoying everything.

Interested in becoming a Foodie Penpal? Click on the link in the beginning of the post!

This past month I linked up with Foodie Penpals at the Lean Green Bean. I had heard about it through several blogs that I follow and thought it would be fun to join up. You receive your recipient on the 5th of each month, and have 10 days to purchase your products ($15.00 limit) and mail your package (hooray for Priority Mail – if it fits, it ships, no matter what the weight). At the end of the month, you write a blog post about the items that you received.

I had a fun time shopping for foods for my recipient, Amy, whose only food restriction was that she was pregnant. Hopefully I did a good job and she’s enjoying the box that I mailed her.I received a box from Kim, who mailed me her favorite staples from Trader Joe’s. We don’t have a Trader Joe’s up here (I wish we did!) so it was nice to receive a brand that I rarely, rarely would have in my pantry. Of course, on the day I received my package, I was ecstatic!

Here’s what I received this month:

August 2012 Box from Kim

• Sweet Potato tortilla chips – these were gone in a matter of days, as they were the perfect late-night snack for Mike, who is working on 2nd shift
• Reduced Guilt Brownie Mix – looks very yummy 🙂
• Spicy Brown Mustard – I love this type of mustard! I put it on everything; my favorite use for it is a dip for pretzels.
• Coconut Oil – I’ve heard of this product, but never used it before…that will be fun!
  
• Yellow & Red Roasted Peppers – Yum! Great in salads or on fresh italian bread
• Salsa Verde – I loved the unique flavor of salsa verde before I even received this jar, and I really like how there weren’t any preservatives in this batch. Great flavor, too!
• a reusable bag from Trader Joe’s – awesome! Who doesn’t love a reusable bag?!

The box of brownies & the bag of chips suffered a bit of damage from the box being bumped around, but were still edible.

My foodie penpal took a great guess as to what I would enjoy – everything! So thank you, Kim, for the wonderful package you mailed me!

If you’re interested in becoming a Foodie Penpal, make sure to sign up ASAP! 🙂