August Foodie Pen Pal

Guess what?!

It's that time again. August's Foodie Pen Pal! 

This month's lovely and thoughtful box came from Katie of Wish and Whimsy. Isn't her blog super cute?! You should head over and read some of her posts - they are very thoughtful, well-written, and well put together. Love. 

Anyways, Katie took a lot of time in planning my box, I could tell - she sent me a package filled with easy grab-n-go snacks since I was returning to school and would be on the go most of the time! Here's what was inside: 

Sea Snax

Sweet & Salty MoJo Bar

Odwalla Bar

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Homemade Pot Holder

Cupcake Plunger/Corer/Filler

Squeezeable Apple Sauce

Instant Oatmeal

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook

Isn't it great? I cannot tell you how long I have been wanting one of those little cupcake coring and filling gadgets, so I got really excited when I saw that. The cookbook will be fun to mess around with, as well. Both of the snack bars and the Sea Snax are already gone, and I'm sure the Justin's nut butter will be gone soon - I love Justin's! I already used the potholder as well. Too cute. 

Thanks so much Katie! I loved everything!

Wanna join the foodie pen pal fun? Here's the details - just email Lindsay to sign up!

-On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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 Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK 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 in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved! 

Much love, 

July Foodie Pen Pals

Everyone! It's time for another month of foodie pen pals! This month, my pen pal was Carolynne from Chicago, IL. She didn't disappoint with her box. She even listened to what I said when she asked about things I love! 

I told her I was interested in flavored honeys recently, and she sent me a bottle of blueberry blossom honey. After trying it, I realized it was just honey harvested from blueberry plants - not blueberry flavored But still delicious! I used it on some banana chips I made a week ago and they were delicious. 

She sent:

 garlic sesame crackers

pecan caramel turtle

blueberry blossom honey

freeze dried tropical fruit

Qbel bar

Reed's Ginger Chews

Oatmeal Apple Currant cookie 

Something exciting was that the cookie was from a local vegan bakery! How cool is that? It was really moist and delicious. Full of flavor. I loved it. I already know I love those ginger chews, so that was exciting. The freeze dried fruit made a great snack while I was working on the school newspaper, and the pecan turtle was very chocolate-y and caramel-y. The crackers were crunchy and delicious. I still haven't tried to Qbel, but I can't wait. That is something that I have been wanting to try for a long time!

Not to mention, Carolynne has great handwriting. 

Thanks for the package, Carolynne! 

Wanna join the foodie pen pal fun? Here's the details - just email Lindsay to sign up!

-On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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 Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK 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 in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved! 

Much love, 

June Foodie Pen Pals

Hey everyone! It's foodie pen peal reveal day! YAY! :) Actually, I'm late on posting this.. I haven't been feeling well lately. Sorry!! This month's box (June) came from Sylvia at Frolic Through Life. Isn't it such an adorable site? I love the design!

This box was filled with savory deliciousness. I told Sylvia that most FPP boxes tend to be sweets heavy, and she sent me a nice savory box instead! I loved everything inside. 

Those crackers are DELICIOUS. I love them. They taste like pizza sauce in cracker form, plus, I have been wanting to try them for a while. I see them at Whole Foods every time I shop there. I also love Rising Moon Organics, so I knew I would love this tomato sauce. It didn't disappoint. The sesame chips were perfect for dipping in the salsa, which was unexpectedly smokey. I was expecting a sweet salsa since mango was an ingredient, but this surprised me. Yum! I still have yet to try the eggplant and tomato tapenade and brown rice pasta she sent, but I am sure I will love them both. 

Thanks, Sylvia, for a yummy savory box!

Wanna join the foodie pen pal fun? Here's the details - just email Lindsay to sign up!

-On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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 Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK 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 in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved! 

Much love,

May Foodie Pen Pal

It's my favorite time of the month - FOODIE PEN PAL REVEAL DAY! Woohoo! It was a great box this month, sent to me by Niki from Salt & Pepper. Thanks so much, Niki! Here is a look at what I received! 

"Powder Clouds" Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Citrus Sea Salt

"Holy Chocolate" Hot Chocolate Mix

Nancy Drew card

Isn't it all super adorable? The cookies were delicious and were gone within a couple days. The powder clouds were similar to mexican wedding cakes (yum) and the peanut butter cookies were from Niki's favorite bakery in San Francisco - Miette. After looking at the website, it's no wonder it is her favorite bakery - it's adorable and the food looks scrumptious! 

I think my favorite thing in the box was the citrus sea salt. I have long been wanting to try flavored sea salts but never want to spend the money. Thanks Niki! I can't wait to try it. I still haven't tried the hot chocolate, either, but the package makes it look very appetizing! 

Finally, I laughed when I saw the Nancy Drew card - I used to LOVE reading Nancy Drew books when I was younger. This was great, and the card is adorable! I loved it. Overall, a great package and a great experience. Thanks again, Niki!

If you want to see what I sent to my foodie pen pal, Dena from 40 Fit in the Mitt, be sure to head over to her blog to check out my package! 

Wanna join the foodie pen pal fun? Here's the details - just email Lindsay to sign up!

-On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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 Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK 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 in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved! 

Much love,

April Foodie Pen Pals

Friends! It's time once again for Foodie Pen Pals, brought to us by the lovely Lindsay! :) 

This month, my box was shipped to me from Shannon, and it was her first time doing FPP. Super exciting, right? I could tell she was excited from the moment she emailed me; her email was vibrant (if an email can be vibrant) and full of energy. I knew this would be a good package. She also mentioned that one of her goals was to send me items I had never tried yet - I must say, she definitely succeeded! Take a look at all the yumminess:

The box included: TJ's sunflower seed butter, Zico chocolate coconut water, TJ's dark chocolate nutty bits, TJ's peach salsa, TJ's roasted red pepper and artichoke tapenade, peanut honey pretzel luna bar, and Larabar chocolate hazelnut jocalat bar. AND homemade peanut butter cup cookies! Whee!

Congratulations, Shannon - I had not tried a single item before in the box you sent me! :) She was also the first FPP to send me something homemade. I loved everything. I have been wanting to try sunflower butter for a while but never bought it, so this was exciting. It's a little sweeter than peanut butter, but I love it. I drank the coconut water right away, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it - it was like drinking chocolate milk, but made with coconut cream and coconut water! Yummy. The salsa was sweet, and the tapenade was devoured for dinner one night. I haven't tried the Larabar yet, and I'm a little skeptical, beucase the last Jocalat bar I tried tasted and smelled like perfume. But I will let you know how it goes when I try this!


Overall, a wonderful box. thanks so much, Shannon! Great job!


I also sent a box this month to Shreya - she is not a blogger, so below is what she had to say about my package:
"I really like the stuff you sent me. I tried the chips last night. They were really great with salsa. Unfortunately, the salsa bottle you sent broke and I couldn't salvage it. I am having the granola for breakfast this morning :) Thanks for the lovely package and the note."


I was so disappointed that the salsa from Whole Foods (Tequila Lime) broke! Ugh! I also sent some Cherry Cacao drink from Honest Tea, local blueberry granola, and raw sweet potato chips.


Time to learn about FPP!

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

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


*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!


Much love to everyone!

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,

My First Foodie Pen Pal

Welcome to my first ever Foodie Pen Pal! I'm super excited to reveal to everyone what my pen pal, Lauren from The Holy Kale, sent me! Tons of raw vegan goodies from Texas! 

So, what was in the box?

{World Peas, Thunderbird Energetica Bar, Hail Merry Cocoa Macaroons, Sweet Curry Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Spiced Apple Fruit Leather, Raw Pecan Butter}

 To be perfectly honest, I thought this box just screamed my name. I absolutely am madly in love with adore Hail Merry macaroons. Best. Cookies. Ever. Those were the first to disappear. All the rest are things I actually have been wanting to try for a while, but didn't want to pay for shipping...and they were great! 

I loved the raw pecan butter - so yummy. I enjoyed it spread on slices of banana! The curry sunflower seeds and fruit leather were delicious as well. I'm still trying to decide what I think about the Thunderbird bar; it's good, but I don't love it. And the World Peas, which I had never heard of before, were pretty good. They are a good alternative to wasabi peas! 

I think she loves exclamation points as much as I do!

And of course, an adorable little card. Wasn't the outside of the card adorable? (see the picture above). Thanks Lauren! I loved my box! 

I sent a package to Mallory over at Plastic California, so be sure to go check out the box of goodies I sent her! 

I can't wait to see what everyone else received!

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,

Couch to 5K

Hi friends! Just a brief post for today - I have a lot of studying to do for my Interpersonal Communications test tomorrow!

One thing I have learned about myself is that I simply do not do well with consistency, when it comes to series of things. For example, I said I would be attempting Jillian's 30 Day Shred for 30 Days. Well, about halfway through, I stopped. Why? It's not because I don't want to do it; I do. I'm not really sure why. If I miss a day, I just end up stopping.

Which is terrible! I know if I had kept up with that challenge, I would be feeling really amazing and accomplished right now. Which is why I'm a little hesitant to reveal my newest goal to you: to go from "couch to 5k" in 9 weeks.

I <3 to recycle my pictures!

I found this program online, where you workout 3 days a week and start with alternating jogging and walking for 20 minutes. The program gradually gets harder and harder, until you are able to run a full 3 miles at the end of 9 weeks. It sounds great, and it has been a goal of mine to become a runner for a while now. I'm just so bad at it! Does anyone else feel that way? I love the feeling I have after I run; I always feel so positive and healthy. I just am not able to run for a long period of time (I can barley run for a few minutes without having to take a break).

So I think this challenge will be good for me. Will I be able to stick with it? I sure hope so. I really do. It's only 25 minutes a day, 3 days a week- totally doable. I just need to make sure I stay consistent! Does anyone have any tips on how you get motivated to keep up with something, even if you don't want to?

I recently decided that I also need a break from sugar; I have been eating SO MANY SWEET recently it's ridiculous! Sweets have started to become most of diet, and that is NOT okay. Because of this, I'm going to try to take a break from sweets for at LEAST a week. Not all sugar, just sweets & baked goods. I was going to start yesterday but then was sabotaged and 3 of my friends' birthday party, so I am starting today! Wish me luck! It should be too hard, I've done it before. I just need a serious detox.

Guess that means no cupcakes for me :(

Finally, some exciting news: this is my first month participating in Foodie Pen Pals! I'm so excited; I have heard great things about this program. I just found out who I am paired with today and I couldn't be more excited! Have you guys participated in this program before? What do you think of it?

Alright- time to stop procrastinating and start studying. Have a lovely day!

Much love,