September Foodie Pen Pals!

This month I was matched up to receive a box from Jenny in California. She said when she saw I was from Alaska she immediately thought "oh that's sad, they don't have Trader Joe's in Alaska." That's right, we don't have TJ's here and I really wish we did! I love that place and try to stock up on my faves (non-perishables) when I go out of state. Jenny was nice enough to send me a Taste of Trader Joe's. Some of her favorite things for me to taste.

Jenny wrote me a very nice note (on adorable Girl Scout cookie stationary!) detailing what every item was and how best to enjoy it. Unfortunately two of the items didn't arrive in one piece. I was sad to see a cracked chocolate coffee grinder thing and shattered jar of cookie butter. I've heard such good things about this stuff I'm going to have to get my hands on some somehow...

The goods:
-Vegetable Pasta
-Edemame Crackers
-Black Bean Dip
-Eggplant Garlic Spread
-Snap pea Crisps
-Sugar, chocolate, coffee grinder
-Chocolate Covered Mint Espresso Beans
-Cookie Butter

So far, everything I've tried has been super yummy. I still need to break open the eggplant garlic stuff, and cook up the veggie pasta, but that will be SOON! I really love the edemame crackers. Theya re so light and crispy. And yes, those snap pea crisps (somehow not in the photo) are like crack. I've gotten them a time or 2 before and always eat more than I mean to.

If you're interested in joining up for Foodie Penpals head over to the Lean Green Bean. Lindsay hosts a great party. Here's more information.

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Here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

-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!