June Foodie Penpals Guest Poster Tracie!!

This month I participated in Foodie Penpals over at the The Lean Green Bean Blog.I was given Tracie's name to send her a surprise goodie box. Foodie Penpals is really a fun program and Tracie does an excellent job explaining it all in her post. Today I will post Tracie's post, to whom I sent a goodie box, and I will also reveal what my penpal Danielle sent to me in another post. So take it away Tracie!

Hi One Cool Lunch readers!  My name is Tracie and I am excited to be doing this guest post for Jen on foodie penpal reveal day.  This was my first month participating and I believe it was Jen’s first month too, so if you are wondering what a foodie penpal is then read on.  You can also check out Lindsay’s blog, The Lean Green Bean.  Lindsay is the founder and coordinator of the foodie penpal program.  She pairs everybody up each month so that you send a package to one person and receive a package from a different person.

I was lucky to be paired with Jen this month.  Jen and I exchanged a few emails and I had checked out her blog (which I think is great and I’m not just saying that because I am doing a guest post) so I was excited to see what she would send. I was not disappointed.  The note she included in the package stated she had sent some of her favorite things.  Check out the great package she sent! 

The first thing to be grabbed out of the box (yes, literally) by my kiddos were the cookies and cream magic milk straws.  We have never had these before so we had to try them immediately.  

They were a huge hit.  The day the package arrived we were packing for a camping trip so I packed the Peanut Butter and Co. dark chocolate and peanut butter.  We ate it with pretzels after our hike one day.  We had to go buy more.  Jen also included a package of Biscoff cookies.  This was another newbie for me.  I am so glad she introduced me to these cookies.  I don’t think I ever would have bought them because I tend to lean more towards chocolate type cookies, but these were delicious.  They had the perfect amount of sweetness and just the right crunch.  I only hope I can find them local.  I was excited to see a packet of Tastefully Simple onion onion seasoning.  I have used this before, but it has been a while.  I used it in the traditional way and made a veggie dip with it.  I made it to take somewhere, but it was so good I left it home for us to enjoy.  We also enjoyed the box of Annie’s macaroni and cheese.  We just discovered this macaroni and cheese and it was an instant favorite in our family.  I was completely unfamiliar with two of the items in the box (I think this is one of the fun parts of the foodie penpal program).  Jen included a jar of Penzeys Forward all purpose seasoning.  I have not tried it yet, but hope to this weekend.  She also included Primula tea.  This one threw me and I had to look it up to figure out how to use it.   The box also contained granola from a local company where Jen lives.  The original granola was super yum on yogurt.  It took me longer to try the dark chocolate and coffee granola because I am not a coffee drinker.  I really did not think I would like it, but as it turns out it was one of my favorite items in the box.  Who knew?  

Thanks Jen!  The box you sent was full of fun new foods for us to try.  If you want to connect with your own foodie penpal, here are a few of the details.

-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 penpal!
-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.

Thanks Tracie!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and look for those Biscoff cookies at your local Wal-Mart store ;) To see what I was sent look here !!