Tag Archives: writing

Aug31
Posted on by
Quote

It’s that time again, the BIG reveal of this month Foodie Pen Pal :)

My August Pal was Chelsea who is blogging at http://yashascrazylife.wordpress.com/  Chelsea put together such a fun box for me full of  tasty and gluten free goodies. Here are my awesome treats:

Any nuts and fruit mix is something I eat on a daily basis, from a yogurt topping to a salad add-in to a healthy night snack.

This apple butter was just the right mix of sweet and tart, a nice addition to a morning toast or a cookie topping.

I’m a huge tea-lover, so this oolong tea was a wonderful treat, I made it as iced tea and added a bit of dried rose hips flowers to enhance the sweet flavor.

Granola and fruit bars are my on-a-go breakfast or snack and Larabar is my favorite brand as they are all natural, gluten/dairy/soy free. I haven’t tried these particular flavors before, but can you say “no” to anything that says “cookie” on it?!

This almond butter brand was also not familiar to me, but I’ll definitely be on a look out next time I’m shopping as the taste and consistency were both good. You can potentially spread it on a toast or cracker, but I found that it was best eaten with a spoon right out of the packet, especially the chocolate one. :)

Dried mango slices are the kid’s favorite, they were quickly consumed the same morning the box came (under the blanket like I was going to take them away!). A special thank you from the kid!

And here are some of August goodies in action: I made jam tarts using the apple butter and some of the chocolate almond butter topped with pecans blend.

Thank you Chelsea!

If you’d like to participate in a Foodie Pen Pal program, please visit Lindsay’s site for details http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/

Jul31
Posted on by
Quote

A month ago, while reading one of the posts on The Ranting Chef blog, I stumbled upon this awesome program, Foodie Penpals, created by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean www.theleangreenbean.com .

I was immediately drawn to the idea, I do love cooking and trying different foods, and I do love writing (it’d be hard to maintain a blog if I didn’t :) ), so it was a no-brainer that I just had to join.

And what’s not to love?!  On the 5th of each month, you get paired with two people, one who is sending a box of different goodies to you, and one who you have to send a box to. I was especially excited that you get to enclose something hand-written too. In this age of technology and instant communication, it’s not too often you get to practice penmanship skills. And to use your personalized pink stationery.

 

Just so happened that this month both my “sender” pal and a “receiver” pal were newbies too, so dare I say, all three of us had a great time participating in the program!

My “sender” pal this month was Heather who lives in California and who sent me a box full of delicious goodies. I was especially grateful she was just so considered that she adhered to my gluten free specifications and sent me foods I can enjoy. I also got a note explaining where the foods come from, it was surely interesting to know what local establishments “contributed” their share to fill the box I got.

Even before the box was opened, I could smell the popcorn and couldn’t wait to have my hands (and mouth) full of it. Oh boy, it was good! Sweet and slightly salty with fresh caramel taste, I ate it before the kid had a chance to discover what was in the box (lucky me :) ).

This is the local honey we got in a cute bear jar, it was tasty and smelled like flowers.

I was excited to try these gluten free cookie bars, I’ve never heard of this company before but will definitely be on a look-out for their products, especially if they come individually wrapped, I’m always happy to throw a pre-packaged cookie in my purse for those spur-of-the-moment dessert outings.

Veggie chips is just the healthy snack to share during a “movie night”, it went well with some salsa and hummus.

I usually add nuts to my morning oatmeal or yogurt, so this addition was right on for my breakfast “fix”. A pink lemonade  mix is great for when you feel under the weather and need a quick Emergen-C remedy to feel better by evening. A fruit “rope” was a nice touch from Heather’s son, very much appreciated by my kid, right before dinner (old habits never die apparently), but since he is now the ever-hungry teenager, dinner was eagerly consumed too.

The Pomegranate BBQ glaze looks like it’d be wonderful on just about any meat coming off the grill. I do, however, need to call the manufacturer to see if the Worcestershire sauce they used was gluten free.

Thank you Heather for such thoughtful and full of healthy food finds mix! And I’m now looking forward to more goodies in August!