Catch-up and Foodie Reveal Day

Yes, I am probably the only blogger who didn't post about Thanksgiving.  We had a good one, but I didn't take any pictures.  It was overshadowed by an email from my landlord that indicates he wants to keep my security deposit.  And pain in my shoulder, neck, back, and head from coughing for three weeks.  It's not to say that my turkey day wasn't special, it was.  It's just to say that I was emotionally exhausted and worn out from anger, coughing, and not sleeping well.  However, on turkey day we went to some golf friends' house and enjoyed an afternoon of yummy food and conversation.  The morning was relaxing as I cooked up some sides and watched the parade.  Good all around.

The rest of the weekend was a bit stressed money-wise as I worked out our budget for how we are going to get through the month with $2000 less and whether we can pay all our bills and still buy food and gas.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works out, but it will be a less festive Christmas as we don't have extra money for decorations or a tree or even a wreath...let alone presents.  Luckily Evan is only 1 and doesn't understand presents.

Ivan and I did do our first date of Christmas though!  I had saved some money and we used it to go to the movies.  We went to an 11:05am movie so it was only $6.50 a ticket.  We went and saw Catching Fire and I LOVED it.  Ivan liked it too, because of all the fighting.  The only downside was that Ivan hadn't eaten lunch so he ordered chicken fingers and fries and the total was $18.95.  He thought the guy said $8.95 so we both almost cried when we realized how expensive that small amount of food was.  It was like highway robbery!

This past weekend was also November Foodie Reveal Day for the Foodie Pen Pal exchange I like to participate in.  In case you can't remember what it is, you get a pen pal and exchange a few emails to get to know them and then mail them a box of fun food items.  I've done it for a few months now and I love it.  I won't do it this month because of the money thing mentioned above, but I'll definitely resume when things settle down a bit more.

My partner this month was Alan.  We exchanged a lot of emails and he was a fabulous partner.  He mentioned that he loved spices so I was secretly hoping he'd send me a few in my box.  Well, he did not disappoint!  I got a lovely box from him filled with all kinds of goodies.

Look at all that fun stuff!  And it was nicely packaged in tissue paper and ribbons, to look even more fun.  Let's take a look at some of the fun stuff in there.

Here are the spices.  The Vietnamese cinnamon is amazing.  I use it every day in my coffee and oatmeal and I used it in my pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  It's got a stronger flavor that regular cinnamon, but that makes it even better.  The other spice is Sumac Berries.  I think that will taste great on a chicken dish, but I haven't tried it yet.  It smells amazing though.

Then there was this chocolate bar.  You can never go wrong with chocolate.  I was a bit hesitant about crystallized ginger in chocolate because I don't like ginger (except in Asian dishes), but it was fantastic.  The crystallized ginger mixed really well with the dark chocolate and this bar was devoured in no time at all.  

And lastly, these Lara bars.  I love Lara bars and I had never tried these kinds before.  They were tasty though!  I brought them to class to help curb my hunger and I really liked them.  The pecan flavor was my favorite, but they both had a fun and festive fall flavor.  The box also had a delicious chili mix and lots and lots of milk duds.  Yum!  I haven't made the chili yet but it sounded fantastic, and it even suggests putting it on top of spaghetti.  I'm not sure if I'll do that or not, but I can't wait to try the mix.

So that was my box!  It was so great and I really had fun this month putting Alan's box together and then getting his in the mail.  It was a bright spot in a stressful month!

Hope your December is off to a great start!!

October Foodie Pen pals!

It's Foodie Pen Pal time again!  I am loving Foodie Pen Pal so much that I keep signing up every month.  I just love getting boxes filled with fun and different foods to try and filling a box for someone else with some of my favorite things. 

First, what is Foodie Pen Pal?  Well, it’s a pen pal program started by Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean.  You sign up with her and then she matches you with a partner and you send each other boxes.  Each box should contain about $15 worth of food products.  They can be anything from homemade stuff to boxed stuff to random things you find out and about.  You just want to make sure you communicate with your partner first in case they have any type of food allergies.  Then you box your items up and ship them out by the 15th of the month.  Simple, fun, and easy.

This month I was paired with Wendy.  She was so sweet and we actually had a decent amount in common.  She's on the rowing team and my dad's host/foster dad from high school won the gold medal in rowing in the 1936 Olympics.  Very cool!  Since I'm training for a half marathon we are both pretty active these days (her probably more so than me because I am slacking on my training).  Wendy sent me the best box!  It was filled with amazing homemade goodies that I started eating right away!

How great does this box look??  Amazing, right!  She sent me homemade pumpkin spice granola and chunky apple pear sauce, three chia bars (I ate two before snapping the picture), peanut butter with coconut (so delicious), and almond water with coconut (as you can tell, I took the picture after eating half of the granola, peanut butter, and apple pair sauce).  Oh, and she sent me some pumpkin spice tea, but I took that to work so didn't get a chance to include that in the pic.  It's my favorite type of tea, rooibos, flavored with pumpkin.  Quite relaxing and tasty.

Here's a close-up of the granola, water, and peanut butter.  All were great.  The almond water was a bit sweet, but still good.  And the granola is perfect for my yogurt (or by the handful, which is how I normally eat it).

She also included this adorable note.  I love the stamps!  

I hope she liked my box as much as I enjoyed hers.  If you want to do Foodie Pen Pal for the month of November, don't forget to sign up!  You won't regret it!

And have a Happy Halloween!  I can't wait to share pictures of Evan in his adorable Halloween costume!

September Foodie Pen Pals!

It’s time for another Food Pen Pal Reveal Day! 

I had so much fun putting my box together last month and then receiving a box – I decided to sign up again.  And again, as I just signed up for October.  I love food, what can I say.

What is Foodie Pen Pal?  Well, it’s a pen pal program started by Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean.  You sign up with her and then she matches you with a partner.  Last month we had two partners – you sent a box to one person and someone different sent you a box.  This time she switched it up and we sent and received boxes from the same people.  Each box should contain about $15 worth of food products.  They can be anything from homemade stuff to boxed stuff to random things you find out and about.  You just want to make sure you communicate with your partner first in case they have any type of food allergies.  Then you box your items up and ship them out by the 15th of the month.  Simple, fun, and easy.

This time I was partnered with Andrea from Mommy Got Fit.  I was excited to find that she is a runner too!  I was so excited when I saw her box in the mail.  It came just in time to satisfy my craving for something not in my pantry.  When I opened it up I was thrilled to find some yummy packages of nut butters.  I LOVE nut butters, especially ones that contain chocolate and coconut.

Look at all those nut butters!  And one was missing because I ate it so fast I couldn’t photograph it.  Whoops!  Evan and I had the Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter in our oatmeal this morning and it tasted extra delicious.

I also loved the grass-fed beef snack sticks.  I love grass-fed beef.  And the chickpeas are a great snack for work when I’m hungry and have no lunch-food left.

All in all, I was thrilled with my box and hope she loved hers too. 

Thanks Andrea!!!

If this sounds fun, hop over to The Lean Green Bean and sign up – you have until tonight to sign up for October!

Foodie Pen Pal

I am not sure how I forgot, but I did.  I totally forgot to write my post about my foodie pen pal.  I think it's because the post was for Friday and since I don't ride the bus on Fridays, I usually don't write a blog post.  I should have written the post in advance, but I never got around to it.  So, my foodie post is late.  However, I am going to post about it anyway.

I came across Foodie Pen Pals on The Lean Green Bean last month and thought it sounded so fun.  The deal is, you get assigned a pen pal and then you send them a box of fun food items - from your town, your favorite items, fun stuff you saw at the store, handmade goodies, etc.  Then someone picks your name and you get a fun box too.  I was so excited to participate! I love pen pals and I love food!

My penpal was Terri (she doesn't have a blog, so I can't link to her), and she's a professional chef.  She sent me such a fun box.

Look at all the yummies in there!.  I got crackers, dried apricots, popcorn, almonds, brie, homemade granola, a fig bar, raspberry-chipotle jelly, and a card.

This was the popcorn.  It is no ordinary popcorn.  It is funky chunky popcorn.  And it was amazing.  I ate the entire bag without breathing,.

Here's the homemade granola.  It was very tasty.  It had flax seed in it and some other yummy stuff. She recommended eating it with milk or yogurt but mine didn't last very long. I are it straight from the bag.

This is the Brie cheese with with raspberry chipotle sauce.  She recommended putting it on the crackers, so that's what I did.

And she was right. It was tasty.

Thanks Terri for such a delicious box - I love everything!