March Foodie Penpal Reveal

Last fall, Lindsey of The Lean Green Bean started the Foodie Pen Pal Program, and it has taken off.  After a couple of months reading other blogger's posts about the food exchange, I finally signed up for March.  I can't believe it took me this long to join.  It was so much fun!  I'm already looking forward to doing it again next month.

As someone who loves sending and receiving packages and eating fun snacks, this is the perfect program for me.  I had so much fun shopping for my pen pal, but I won't tell you about what I got for her.  If you want to read about the treats I sent to Jen at Juanita's Cocina pop over to her blog to read her post.

Today's post is all about the goodies I received from Brooke at The Well-Nourished Traveler.

When I came home from work on March 15th, my package was sitting on my dining room table and I was soooooooo excited.  I really love getting packages, especially when they are full of treats.

So, I let the kids watch a show and I tore open the box. 

What awaited me inside was so wonderful and perfect that I couldn't stop smiling.

Brooke did an amazing job picking out fun, local treats.  She told me in her handwritten note that she purchased all of the goodies at a shop called Smucker Farms, which sells products made in Lancaster, PA.

The first item I opened was this bag of dried apples, which made me laugh out loud.  Not because dried apples are particularly funny, but because I had just come from our local co-op where I purchased a bunch of dried fruit...except for dried apples (which I really wanted)...because they were out of them.  I knew upon opening those apples that this box of goodies was going to be wonderful.

The next item I opened was this pretzel mix, which I was so excited to try.  I love baking and I love soft pretzels.

In fact, I was so excited about the mix that I made the pretzels the next day.  They were YUMMY!

The third item I opened was this bag of popcorn, which I opened and ate right after I took pictures of it.  Hey, it was 4:30 pm and I had the afternoon munchies.

Brooke also sent me this Italian seasoning which I have used in a few different dishes.  It's great!

And, she sent me this cookie that I haven't tried.

I have it in my desk at work for an afternoon when I want something sweet.  It says on the package to sit it on top of a hot beverage prior to eating it, so I'll have to have it with my afternoon coffee some day.  Although, I have to admit that I have been tempted to just eat it straight out of the package a few times.

I had so much fun opening the package that Brooke sent, and even more fun eating the snacks.  Foodie Pen Pals is so awesome and I am definitely going to do it again next month (and the month after...).

Some of you may not have heard about the program, so here's a little information about it from Lindsey:

-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 penal!

-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 Penpals 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. So, I'm going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for April, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by April 4th as pairings will be emailed on April 5th!

If you want to see what all of the other participants sent and received, head over to this spot and check it out.  Over 300 people participated this month.  That's a lot of food love!


If you are interested in joining, you should.  It's so much fun!

Thanks again Brooke for all the wonderful treats! I can't wait to see what shows up next month.