Happy Halloween and welcome to the Foodie Pen Pal Reveal!      

 I first read about this great program from Desi, and quickly headed over to the Lean Green Bean to learn how I could join in the fun.   Here is Lindsay’s program in a nutshell:

1.  Sign up by the 4th of every month…..you can do it here, and from this point on the fun and anticipation begins.  You will email back and forth with your pairing, getting their address, finding out their interests and if they have any allergies or dietary restrictions.
2. Get all of your shopping done by the 15th of the month (spending is limited to $15), cause that is the deadline to get it in the mail (I will be honest and say that I did not get to the Post Office until the 16th…thank the Lord for Priority Mail).
3. On the last day of the month you post about all of the goodies you received from your pen pal!

Lindsay started Foodie Pen Pal a year ago, and it has grown to over 1,300 people participating each month.  How cool is that!!  Foodie lovers from the United States, Canada and even England, uniting over great food.  Absolutely awesome!!

Tamre, who blogs over at The Tiny Table, was chosen to be my foodie pen pal.  We exchanged a few emails, I learned that she lives in the same city as my mother-in-law, and gets down to the Cincinnati area alot….not only to enjoy the Reds, but to frequent all of the new breweries that have opened along our Riverfront.
This fantastic box was waiting patiently for my arrival on the 18th.  K was all over me, asking why someone was sending me a bunch of milk straws!
I opened it up to find colorful tissue paper and a note made out just to me.  Do you remember when we actually used to send letters to people?  The thrill of opening the mailbox, and seeing mail addressed to you.  Nowadays, all I ever get are bills addressed to me.  =(  I wonder if we could bring back letter writing….give email and technology a rest….I know the post office would thank us!  =)  Bottom line, this is a treat…..loved the handwritten note.
The first item to be revealed is this cute Halloween shaped pasta.  We are huge pasta eater’s in my family…..can’t be Italian without loving on some pasta.  She thought ahead, and knew that we would be revealing on Halloween….very clever!  We will be enjoying this one tonight!
Next up is Tasty Bite Bombay Potatoes.  I have to be honest, and say I had my doubts on this product….little nervous thinking about the texture and the taste.  I brought it with me to work last week, and will be the first to admit that I loved it.      Surprise, surprise, surprise!       The best part was that it is preservative free and gluten free.  As I was eating it, I was thinking about how I could replicate it at home.  Tamre thinks that I can find it at a Whole Foods.  Next time I am around the Mason area, I will be picking up some Bombay Potatoes to have on hand.
Tamre is a girl after my own heart, wanting to put tasty meals on to the table with very limited time to accomplish it (at least during the work week).  This liquid taco seasoning gets added to cooked beef (she says she uses ground turkey), and can easily be turned into a quick taco meal.  I look forward to trying it with ground turkey like she suggested, and while the kids are eating taco’s, I will be using a homemade tortilla bowl and eating a salad.  If you haven’t seen my post on the tortilla bowl, check it out here.
This Luna bar was the perfect 4pm snack for me.  Can you believe I have never mixed raspberries with chocolate?  I usually go for the chocolate, peanut butter and caramel varieties, but was really surprised to say I like this combination.  It satisfied me, and did not leave me wanting more.   Win, win in my book, as I won’t be overeating……..   I will have to stock up on these.
I cannot wait to use the herbed coffee rub.  Tamre suggested I use it on ribs, but I have never (and I mean NEVER) had any luck making ribs at home.  If you have a fabulous recipe, or technique….please, please send it my way.  My guys LOVE ribs, and head over to Montgomery Inn whenever they get the chance!

I am very intrigued by the nut butter’s she sent.  I imagine them on a freshly toasted english muffin or bagel, just have not had the opportunity for this indulgence yet.
See all the post-it notes above?  These were on every item she sent me, and I loved it!  Brings me back to what I stated above….it is wonderful getting handwritten notes from people!  If I take part in this again, I will definitely be adding little notes to each food item.  These notes made the Foodie Pen Pal package perfection!  The only thing that would have made it better?  A magic milk straw!  As B and K would say……JK (if you are not up on all of the texting abbreviations, it stands for just kidding)!

Curious to see what I put together for my Foodie Pen Pal?  Head on over to Val at Live Fit Journey……

Have any of you taken part in the Foodie Pen Pal Series?

                           Shaunna ♥