I signed up to be a Foodie Pen Pal for the month of May. What is a Foodie Pen Pal? Foodie Pen Pal is organized by Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean. You are paired with someone (a reader or blogger) and you send them a box of goodies and they send you one. As soon as I read the premise I thought it was right up my alley; I love food and I love sharing fun food finds. I decided to participate before it got too hot, as I knew I wanted to send chocolate for one of my items. I love sharing unique finds, the hardest part for me was staying within the $15 budget.
I was paired with a very sweet reader, Sheri from Houston, TX. This was the first time participating for both of us. Neither one of us set very many restrictions; in fact Sheri’s only restriction was she likes chocolate and nuts, but not together…that was an easy one to work with 🙂 I was thrilled when I received Sheri’s box…she was so thoughtful and read my blog to get some ideas; everything in the box was perfect! Her letter even included recommendations on how to use each product!
Sheri recommended several uses for this one, but the one I think I’ll try is her favorite, using it to marinate chicken. Sheri recommended: Putting seasoned chicken in the crock pot, dump in the dip, add a little chicken broth, and let cook all day. Then add corn and black beans and shred the chicken and serve in tortillas. The next day leftovers can be used in a southwestern inspired salad. Yum!!
The funny thing about this is that I almost sent her pepper jelly, I was this close (oh forgot you can’t see…well it was close) 🙂 I’m excited to try the Texas version of pepper jelly. One of Sheri recommendations was to use it as a sauce on meatballs for an appetizer. I have never heard of using pepper jelly that way…what a neat idea. I think I will stick with my favorite use for this jar, pepper jelly over cream cheese.
How perfect is that…I like beer and I like bread and it has all real ingredients, so a complete win, win! Sheri recommended the addition of strawberries that sounds delicious, but I think I will stick with the traditional beer bread.
And finally this and this:
She really nailed my likes. 🙂 A wine glass I can use outdoors, for my favorite summertime activity! The poppers are apparently an office favorite. They were quite good, little crackers with a whole lot of spice. It was more of a building heat than an instant heat, which I like.
If I was a better blogger I would have taken pictures of what I sent Sheri but sadly I’m disorganized and was mailing the box on our way out-of-town for our trip. So, I did not document properly (bad blogger!). I included in my box:
White Whale “Your Older Brother” Cocktail Mix
Farmer’s Daughter Scuppernong Grape Jam
Escazu Goat’s Milk Chocolate Bar
I also included a spice and sauce sample from a couple of NC companies.
If you were choosing one item to send from your home state, what would it be?
ooh this sounds right up my alley too! 🙂 i feel like i’m hitting my limit on packages & letters i send out though.
This looks like a very cool thing to do! If it’s not too late, I want to sign up. I totally love swaps like this, and pen pals 🙂 I love that you got someone from Houston because I recognize some of the those items, like, I know where she purchased them LOL If you ever need any more of the spicy texas crackers, let me know!
This looks like such a good idea! I’m going to go sign up and see if anyone wants some Hawaii goodies 😀
What a cool thing to do!!! Do you know if there’s another ‘foodie pen pal’ month coming up??
Hahahaha… that wine sippy cup is AWESOME!
This is fantastic! I wanna join!
But I would have a hard time choosing just 1 thing from NC….
Maybe Vivian Howard’s Blueberry BBQ sauce or Counter Culture Coffee Beans (husband’s vote)
Oh man, honestly I have NO idea what I would send to honor Washington…maybe some kind of coffee! HA.Seattle ISSSSS a pretty big coffee location.
Ooohhhh I am jealous of both the jalapeno pepper jelly and the habanero dip. (Its the New Mexico coming out in me!) x
I think this is a great idea. I am not much of a foodie but I do love trying new things especially snacks. I love the wine glass.
I would send blue bottle coffee – Hayes Valley!! It’s a California coffee company in Oakland. I think they are in NYC now too but we’re the original. My non-cali but other item would def be Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups – soooo good!
A nice light hearted post – nothing frightening like space 😉 I need that for this Friday.
Besos!
what a great idea! i am the worlds pickiest eater so i would suck at this. i wlant that wine glass!!!
I am seeing the foodie list all over the place and it is making me wish I had participated when I had a permanent address! How fun!
That dip looks ah-mazing!!! I like to include almonds when I send a foodie penpal box because we sure grow a lot of them here in California!
What a fun idea! I bet I could come up with some good treats from Boston!
Goats milk chocolate? I have never heard of such a thing! You really know your food. I’m very intrigued by the beer bread, sound like a match made in heaven! Let me know how it turns out!
Hi there! I love the name of your blog and the meaning behind it!
I love that a lot of the items in the package you received were TX themed. I need to try this pepper jelly! The items you sent sound way cool too! Goat Milk chocolate bar and cocktail mix? Yummo!
That’s a really good question. If I had to send an item from my true home state, IL, I’d probably send deep dish pizza sauce since that’s what Chicago’s famous for (I know this doesn’t make complete logical sense, lol). And then if I sent an item from my home state now, TX, I’d probably send bbq sauce. 🙂
I would blow the entire $15 on the hot chocolate tablet from Revival Market that copies the hot chocolate at Hugo’s here in Houston. It makes four of the best cups of hot chocolate you’ll ever have. Or I would send you Revival Market chicharrones or Bernie’s Burger Bus ketchup (or hell, even Whataburger spicy ketchup). Ranch Style Beans are apparently a Texas thing, so I would send those, too. And coffee beans from Greenway Coffee, those are my favorite. Tito’s Vodka would be good (even though that’s from Austin) and a nice seasonal Shiner since I know you’re a beer girl. OOOH or some No Label Beer since the brewery is right by my house. Basically a food box from me would be amazing but very expensive, both to assemble and mail 🙂
I love spicy food the habanero dip looks great. This was my first time too! Fun!
Mmmm pepper jelly and cream cheese sounds delicious!
Well, this is such a good idea! It’s right along the lines of penpaling. Would be great to do it if I was on shore duty, but I just left shore duty. And my hobby is “eating” too (just realized what it says above in your “about the author” section. Some people think that is funny, but I think that it makes complete sense. Food is sustenance after all, and if you have to eat to live, well you might as well enjoy it. =) -Jess L