Foodie Pen Pal Reveal

Welcome to our first Foodie Pen Pal post. We are Foodie Pen Pals, well, I'm the one that wanted to do it, Mike helped find things and helped put the whole thing together and suggested things for me to put in the box for the person I was sending to. I ask for his input on a lot of things. So here we go. Reveal day!! I have been just itching to write about what was sent to me :) SOOOOO excited!!!

So first off, I had gone for a nice run Monday September 17 and came back to check my mail. Well as I was digging through my stock pile of mail, due to being out in St. Louis all weekend, I found the oh so sought after key that the mail man leaves when you have a package, unlike UPS who likes to leave me notes and keep my package from me until they can either magically find me at home or I have to go pick up the damn thing. I digress, so I excitedly opened up the special mail box to find my lovely package sitting there, patiently waiting for me. Oh man I was excited. I immediately snapped this picture as I was walking back to my apartment and sent to Mike and exclaimed "IT CAME!!!!"

So then I rushed to the house, so very excited to get this baby inside to crack open and rifle through like a kid on Christmas morning.

I opened it to find a glorious range of foods and goodies that I couldn't wait to dive into. (Yes there is a picture of a snickerdoodle cookie in my kitchen, I used to work in a local Costco Bakery, that was my parting gift). 

I found the card included after examining each item and drooling. I wiped the drool from my face so I could read what was in my card. My dear pen pal asked what I liked and would like included in my box. I had said I was a health nut a little and was training for a 5k mud run and that I loved peanut butter. Caitlin said in her note that she decided to do a peanut theme since I love peanut butter so much. How awesome!!!! And to top it off I love the card because being the Kansas girl I am, I adore sunflowers, they are my favorite. Such happy flowers :)

So now we dive into the box of deliciousness that is peanuts and peanut butter. She included Trader Joe's Salty, Sweet & Nutty Trek Mix. She said this was one of her favorites, it is now mine too! Oh my, the deliciousness that this bag of yumminess is! I almost ate the whole bag in two days. I adore this Trek Mix and still need to get my butt down to TJ's and pick up a package, or two, or ten! Sweet honey roasted peanuts, peanuts, cashews, and peanut brittle!! Mouth orgasm! And then there is the beloved PB & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, which I knew was going straight to work to be enjoyed when I needed a healthier alternative to those days I crave chocolate but don't need a chocolate bar. YUM!!! :) Thank you.

Then we have Justin's Classic Peanut Butter. I have only tried the Justin's honey roasted and almond butters. So I again stashed these in my purse to take to work for days I didn't have time to eat or forgot breakfast (like that ever happens) or just needed something to nibble and not have to go raid the vending machine. :) YUMMM Peanut butter - perfect by itself.

Then, yes THEN, I found this. I went a bit crazy happy with this because I've been meaning to try it. I just haven't wanted to spend the money on a jar of it (my local Hyvee charges $6 for the stuff, bit pricey for something that won't last long in my house - PB is usually gone within a few days if not a week). I wasn't sure how I was going to use this though. Should I make a sandwich? Nah, too boring. Should I try adding it to something like cookies? No, I really don't need cookies. Oatmeal? Wasn't in the mood. I know!! I added it to a chocolate banana protein shake one day and made it chocolate peanut butter banana. Oh yum!! This would be a great addition to my protein shakes after my Insanity workouts. Add a little more protein and some delicious flavor. It didn't taste fake at all and satisfied that peanut butter craving that I have about 90% of the time.

Then I found the "Organic High Antioxidant Trail Mix." YUMMMMMM Almonds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, raisins...ooo it goes on. Delish - only thing is I found something delicious that just wasn't familiar to me. Anyone know what this is?

Next we have our bars. MoJo trail mix bars and a Luna bar. We had MoJo Mountain Trail Mix Sweet & Salty and then we had MoJo Peanut Butter Pretzel Sweet & Salty. Oh my yes! The PB MoJo was better in my opinion but both were great for work when I hit that 3pm slump. The PB Cookie Luna bar was fantastic, not covered in sicky sweet coating but enough sweet to combat the salty. Mmmm, definitely a go to if I need a quick bar to eat to supplement a crappy lunch.

As you can see I enjoyed, can you see that pretzel stick right on top there!!! YUMMY Real food :)

Now we have the "Women's Vitality Mix." Can I just say that I absolutely ADORE trail mixes. And these are all fabulous!!!! This had cashews, almonds, dried cranberries, raisins, pistachios, dark chocolate chips (which I ended up picking out and eating while at my desk one day hehe, then I was left with all the really healthy stuff - shhhhh). I thoroughly enjoyed and all trail mixes are gone, done, eaten quickly. 

Thank you foodie pen pal for the splendorous box of goodies. YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!

Check out Caitlin's Twitter @Hopefulhels and see what she got ;)

And here is the link to the person we sent to here at Kids and Canning Jars.

Now go out and cook, or eat some trail mix with peanuts like me hehe :)

 Here are the details:

-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.