Showing posts with label trader joes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trader joes. Show all posts

4.30.2012

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!


The Lean Green Bean


-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!

3.12.2012

I'm back and ready to blog!

Hey everyone! I'm back from my spring break trip in Paris, Virginia, and I had a blast! Although I did get really frustrated at times, the trip was overall a success. It reinforced exactly why I am a vegetarian. I also loved getting to know all the animals and seeing all their different personalities...and I think goats may now be one of my favorite animals! :)

More on my trip later...I have a couple posts planned where I will share pictures and my adventures, but for now, I just want to share some other exciting (or maybe not so exciting) things!

Things In My Fridge


I have to admit. I absolutely love grocery shopping. And doesn't my fridge look so organized right now? I went to Trader Joe's over Spring Break and got some new eats I'm excited to try, including masala lentil dip, egg white salad, and honey greek yogurt. I will be making an egg white salad sandwich for dinner tonight on my new TJ's bread (see below). SO EXCITED! 

You may also notice I have a slight obsession with hummus. I have roasted pine nut and caramelized onion flavors. The caramelized onion is my favorite - Whole Foods knows how to make some great hummus! The Gardein buffalo wings will be my first experience with Gardein, thanks to a giveaway I won from Celeste at Growing Up Veg. Yummy! This will also be my first time trying the Tofurky kielbasas (I couldn't decide between apple sage Field Roast or these...) and the GoodBelly coconut water. 


More love from TJ's! Mac&cheese, chocolate almond milk, and my most exciting purchase...sprouted wheat bread! When I was reading the nutritional information and discovered each slice has only 60 calories, I became really excited. I never eat bread because of its high calorie content, and I am ready to bust this bag open for dinner tonight. 

At Target I found these new "Peepsters" - has anyone seen them before? They are like chocolate covered peeps, only small candies filled with marshmallow creme! I can't wait to try them.

Things That Are New


I found this awesome new cereal at Target - frosted mini wheats that are filled with raspberry! They are delicious. I don't usually buy sugary cereal, but this is great. They also have a new vanilla almond (I think) Raisin Bran that I want to try. 

And, probably the best purchase of the week... my NEW RUNNING SHOES! They are the Brooks Adrenaline GT12... I went to Fleet Feet and they helped me pick out a stability shoe to support my flat arches and my newly discovered overpronation (my feet roll inwards when I walk). They are really comfortable, and feel a lot like walking on clouds. I love them! Although the store declined my credit card for some weird reason...and only that store! My dad had to come up and buy them for me... and then said I didn't have to pay him back. How awesome is that? 


Also, my newest cookbook... Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli. I've loved her ever since I watched her win Food Network's Cupcake Wars. The recipes of hers that I have tried so far are delicious - I highly recommend her chocolate pumpkin bread pudding (find it on her website!) So yummy and I cannot wait to dig into this book!


New magazines. I'm excited for my subscription to Seventeen to end...and ready to start reading Whole Living and Vegetarian Times, whenever they get here!

Things from Virginia


I bought some raw, unfiltered lavender sage honey, which they collect from the bees on their farm, as well as some dried carrot chips and dandelion "honey" jelly. The jelly was something I've never heard of before, but the owner let me sample it before I purchased a jar, and it was delicious! It's made from dandelion leaves, sugar and lemon juice, and you can use it just like jelly. It definitely tastes like honey, too. So yummy. I couldn't decide if I wanted a jar of this or of the homemade banana butter - but after sampling both, I had to go with the jelly! 

I also jumped right back into my Couch-to-5K program. I've missed running a lot, and I expected to have to   go slower on my program after taking off for a week. However, today was my best workout yet - I completed the entire session without taking breaks, and I am extremely proud! It was a great workout and I hope it continues to go well!

Whew, that was a lot! Here are some upcoming posts to look forward to: 
- Pictures from my trip to Paris, VA and Washington DC
- Product reviews: Hail Merry raw snacks, Lucy's Cookies, Skinny Water, and more
- An abs workout
- An arms workout

And more! :) So please stick around and check back often...I'll also be hosting another giveaway very soon!

What is your favorite new snack that you've tried recently? 
Much love,