Foodie PenPals REVEAL

Hi guys. So i have been waiting for what seems like all month to reveal my awesome package i got from Tamara from Port Moody, BC...check out her awesome blog here. You can also check out Kyla's blog too to see what i sent her:)

Tamara put a lot of thought into my food package and my allergy to gluten! She even contacted the makes of the Holy Crap cereal she got me to ensure that there was no risk of cross contamination in their factories! How sweet and thoughtful is that!

Here are my yummy goods!

So in my package pictured above from i got sundried tomatoes, maple butter, honey sticks, cashew Lara bars and Holy Crap cereal.

I have been wanting to try the Holy Crap cereal forever after hearing about the on the Dragon's Den, a CBC program where entrepaneurs go on and sell their product and try to get one or some or even all of the "dragons" on board to invest in their product! Holy Crap is made out in BC...check out their website if you want to know more information about their cereal! Can you tell this was my fav part of my awesome package? A serving is only 2 tbsp but wow is it filling. I find it more filling than the 1/4-1/2 cup of home made granola i was putting on my greek yoghurt with berries/banana. Which is my go to snack for meal 2 that tides me over until lunch time:) Oh and don't let the price tag scare you...yes it's pricey but since a serving is so small it goes a long way! I let the price tag scare me for too long! I really can't believe i went so long without trying it!

I have tried the San Remo sundried tomatoes as well in a salad, and they were a great addition. They are ready to eat i should have cut them up a little though before putting them in my salad i left them as the whole slices which was a little too much sundried tomato at once ha ha. I will have to try these again soon on my gluten free pizza crust and a sandwhich too!!! I have been slacking on trying my other goodies though. I have yet to try the honey sticks (which actually would have been great in my sicky tea this past weekend, i was really sick all last weekend). I also still have yet to try the cashew larabars and the maple butter too. I am sure i will love both though:)

And if you want to check out what i sent to my Foodie penpal check out Kyla McGillis's blog here.

So here are the deets if you want to participate yourself next month!!!

-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.  -Foodie Penplas 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!

Foodie Fun

Anyone who knows me or follows my blog knows I am a little obsessed with food and eating clean so when I found out about Foodie Penpals a few months ago through my ever expanding twitter community (thanks to Tone It Up) i was intrigued but never really looked into it until last month and made the plunge to sign up for the Canadian program starting in March. Let me tell you when I finally read more into the program I was VERY excited. It’s  such a cool idea that it made me want to reach out to the founder and pick her brain on why and how she started it all.

Foodie Penpals was started by founder Lindsay Livingston of The Lean Green Bean blog back in September 2011.

"The idea first popped into my head after receiving some sort of sample box of foods in the mail. It got me thinking about how much I love getting mail and how fun it would be to mail some foods to other bloggers." said Lindsay

It started with 30 participants in the US and in a few short months it's expanded to Canada and the UK and to over 350 bloggers and readers.

"Each month since then we've pretty much doubled but I never thought that I'd be connecting 350 people in only 6 months!"

The premise of the program is a no brainer for foodies. Lindsay keeps track of all the bloggers and readers who want to participate in a spreadsheet and matches them to their penpals. You will get one person but that person won't get you. On the 5th of the month you get your matches along with emails indicating you need to contact your penpal within 72 hours to find out any dietary restrictions, food preferences etc. The max you can spend on the food for your box is $15 and you must get your box in the mail by the 15^th of the month to ensure that your penpal gets it by the end of the month. After you get your box you must blog at the end of the month on the day indicated by Lindsay in her emails. As a reader you can choose to guest blog or not blog at all!

If you are a baker like me you can include some of your baked goodies too! Keeping in mind food allergies of course. While I think this is a wonderful idea I don't think I would risk getting any baked goods due to my sensitivity to gluten cross contamination, unless I got someone in the same boat as me.

Lindsay knows her way around the kitchen "I'm constantly baking stuff in the kitchen and then looking for people to give it away to so I don't eat it all myself! This was the perfect excuse to send out some homemade goodies along with other foodie stuff"

From reading through her blog you would think that the head of Foodie Penpals has always loved baking and cooking. But she wasn't always a foodie.

"I used to be world's pickiest eater as a child. I lived on Cheerios and mac and cheese. I guess it was probably senior year of college, when I first had an apartment to cook in that I started really liking food."

Although her love for cereal hasn’t changed “I eat about 3 bowls a day. If I go more than 3 days without it I get serious withdrawals”.  Her eating habits have dramatically.

She now loves to meal plan and cook meals at home. This has led her to her most recent endeavor, going back to school to become a registered dietician.

"I love teaching people about making healthy choices. I taught preschool after I graduated (college) and 1/2 the kids in my class had never even tasted a bell pepper before. I realized they weren't getting the nutrition education they needed."

She's right it all starts with our children and teaching them how to fuel their bodies at a young age. Kudos to you Lindsay:)

For more information about Foodie penpals click here. Make sure you check out the rest of her blog as well while you are there. I can't wait to reveal what my foodie penpal sends me at the end of the month! Stay tuned! Let me know if you decide to sign up as well.

Thanks for taking the time and doing the interview with me Lindsay!! Lindsay is a busy bee…she not only has school, she works 3 nights a week as a diet aide, blogs daily, runs the Foodie Penpals program and is a momma with her hubby to their furbabies 2 cats and 2 dogs!