My first Foodie Pen Pal!

I haven't had a pen pal for ages. When I was 6 I met a fellow camper at a campground in Chicken, Alaska. Isn't that a great name for a town? She was from Michigan and I lived in Alaska and we wrote letters back and forth for at least 10 years. We kind of lost touch after high school. This year I just started "pen-pal-ing" with my 9 and 10 yr old nieces that live in West Virginia. I must say kids write the best letters! That reminds me, I think it's my turn...

Anyway, this is a different kid of pen pal. One that involves food. What could be better?! Basically you sign up to be a Foodie Pen Pal, and then Lindsay over at the Lean Green Bean matches you with someone to send a package of food goodies to, and then you receive a package from someone else. I sent my package of specially selected goodies off to Teresa at A Game of Balance and received a package from Eila at the Full Plate Blog! What fun!

If you're interested in learning more about the Foodie Pen Pal Program or if you'd like to participate next month I'll include info and a link to Lindsay's FPP sign-up page at the bottom of this post.

I don't know how it happened, but Eila managed to fill my box with things I LOVE! She lives in Connecticut and sent me a box of goodies all from CT!

The Goods:

- Lower left, Chocolate Chip Cookies! These were delish! Tasted just like homemade.
- Nothin' But Snack Bar. PB, Choc, Banana flavor. This was similar to a regular crunchy granola bar, but so much more depth of flavor. Hubby had a small bite and wasn't thrilled - perfect! More for me!
- Balsamic Four Onion Spread. I don't know how she knew I was obsessed with balsamic. Not sure yet what all I will do with this one, but so far I made a quick veggie pizza the other night and used this as the base under zucchini & mushrooms.
- Ruby Slipper tea. Kind of floral, lightly sweet on it's own. I felt very lady like drinking this tea. :-)
- Biscotti Bites. Another obsession of mine, biscotti. These are lemon flavored and so light and airy. Also only 13 calories each!
- Lower right, Cranberry Pecan granola. Been lovin' me some granola lately. This is delicious mixed into Greek yogurt.
- Center bottom, Curry spiced pumpkin seeds! Great crunch, subtle curry flavor which is how I like my curry. These are good. I put them in the snack bag I keep in the car so I can munch on them while I'm out running around.

Thank you Eila! Fantastic collection of goodies!

Here's a close-up (sorry a little out of focus) of the balsamic four-onion spread.

And a shot of my pizza. Looks a little messy. The night I made this I was in a rush, didn't have pizza dough but my mom had given me a package of refrigerated crescent dough (something I rarely have). I tried to arrange the triangles on my baking stone into a circle but that didn't work very well. I also only had mushrooms and zucchini on hand but I love them both on pizza so this worked out well. I added some rosemary spice blend to the dough before I put down the onion spread and then again in between light layers of cheese. I used colby jack shredded cheese, a little mozzarella, and some shredded parm. Mmmmm-mmmm!

Don't forget you have until June 4th if you want to sign up for next month's Foodie Pen Pals. Here is the information from Lindsay.
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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. 

If you’re interested in participating for June, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

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