It’s that time again, time to reveal the awesome goodies I received from Foodie Penpals this month.

The Lean Green Bean

 

This month Kristen from Beauty and My Feast had my name. I was so excited because she is from Columbus, OH. Next to Madison, Columbus is my second favorite city. Awesome neighborhoods, great art scene (it’s known as the Arts Mafia city), and restaurants that I still miss even though Madison also has a great food scene.

I have to say I have been incredibly flattered by my last few packages. Each package gets healthier each month. You guys really think I’m healthy, don’t you? I love getting all of the healthy treats. I was particularly spoiled this month.

Kristin shared with me that a new health store had opened in Columbus and she had raided the new stores for my goodies.

foodie penpals : letter

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was super excited because there were tons of raw products in the package and I haven’t had many raw items before.

foodie penpals

 

 

 

 

 

 

And she even included a cookbook on raw items!

rawlicious cookbook

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait, is it still called a cookbook if you aren’t actually cooking the food?

The other standout goodies:

These raw granola bars were amazing!

foodie penpals Raw Granola Bars

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manatee and I fought over one on a car trip. The energy bar I ate before a bike ride and it filled me up and kept me going for 25 miles. No easy feat.

Manatee and I also battled for this granola.

raw granola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could not eat this stuff fast enough! It was so good. From now on, if I buy granola, I am only buying raw. So much better than your average store bought granola. It had a great chewy texture and had the most perfect hint of sweet without being overly sweet (like every other granola I have had).

As I said, this package was awesome and also flattering. All in all, Manatee and I do follow an incredibly clean and healthy diet. We have gotten to the point where it’s just what we like to eat, it never feels like it’s something we have to do.

But I have to confess to you: we really aren’t always that healthy. The night I got my foodie penpal package from Kristin, I had been sick with a cold all week. We are talking, can-barely-get-out-of-bed-and-function sick. When I have a cold, the one thing I crave is pizza, or more specifically, tomato sauce. That’s all I really want. Kristin even sent me tomato sauce but I was too lazy to make anything from it. And yes, I did contemplate eating the sauce with a spoon because it looked so good. But I wanted something warm too and putting a pan on the stove seemed like a lot of effort (not proud of this people!) So I did something completely out of the ordinary: I ordered a cheese-less pizza from Pizza Hut. Imagine my guilt as I ate my totally processed meal and read the cookbook she sent, Rawlicious.

I could appreciate the irony of it, but I felt pretty guilty all the same. So guilty that I was determined to make something from that cookbook before I did my post.

I tried the eggplant jerky.

foodie penpals: eggplant jerky

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit, it was not my favorite, but it was something I have been wanting to try. There are tons more recipes I marked in the book for dressings, spiced nuts, and some awesome looking salads. I can’t wait to get cooking…or un-cooking since it is raw foods.

Past Foodie Penpals posts

If you weren’t intrigued already, check out some of my past Foodie Penpals posts and then read about how you can sign up.

May Foodie Penpals

April Foodie Penpals

March Foodie Penpals

February Foodie Penpals

January Foodie Penpals

December Foodie Penpals

November Foodie Penpals

 

Sign Me Up!

Foodie Penpals is one of my favorite blog exchange/groups. Here are the details on this awesome program:

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 July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

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Have you ever made a raw dish? Have you ever tried a totally raw diet?

 

 


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