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?