Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day—My Best Package Yet!

Although I’m technically taking a break from my blog right now, I could not resist posting for Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day because (1) you all know it’s one of my favorite days of the month, and (2) this was definitely one of the best packages I’ve received yet!

This month I was paired with Molly. Molly is a reader and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since my parents live in that area too, Molly and I immediately had a connection. We also bonded over the fact that Molly used to be in the Navy so she could easily relate to my transient life, and the fact that we had just made this huge international move.

We had a lot of fun exchanging emails back and forth this month and I’m already looking forward to meeting up with Molly the next time I’m home visiting my parents. Meeting friends like Molly is exactly what I love so much about Foodie Pen Pals.

The Foodie Pen Pal program is the brainchild of Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean. If you haven’t signed up yet, please head over to Lindsay’s blog to get all of the details. The best part is that you don’t have to be a blogger to sign up!

(You should head over to Lindsay’s blog even if you don’t want to sign up for FPPs because you can see all of the other goodies that everyone received this month!)

I mentioned that this was one of my best packages yet because not only was it extremely thoughtful, but Molly also did an awesome job of working around all of my food allergies/preferences.

I told Molly that I’m allergic to milk and eggs and I’m also not eating any processed sugar right now. I felt like I was being a huge pain, but Molly reassured me it was no problem and pulled through with some awesome stuff!

Check out all of the goodies I got:

Molly included a really sweet card welcoming me back to the States and wishing us luck as we settle into our new home. So thoughtful!

She said she wanted to include foods in my package not only from her new home (California), but also from Maryland where she is from (Old Bay Seasoning) and my new home, Mississippi (Creole Seasoning). Isn’t that really sweet?! I loved it!

Molly also included lots of yummy snacks for me including nut butters, a granola bar, crackers, dried fruit, sprouted sunflower seeds, and a cookie that was made without any processed sugar! How awesome is that?

I must admit that I had never tried lavender in my cookies before. I know that it’s trendy to use lavender, but I always thought it would taste like potpourri! Well, I was wrong. That cookie was amazing. It was soft and chewy, yet had a really light and fresh taste too. Neither the lemon nor lavender flavors were too overpowering—everything about the cookie was perfect!

I also loooooved the nut butter (so far I’ve only tried the pecan, which is to die for), and the 18 Rabbits granola bar. I had never heard of 18 Rabbits until a couple of weeks ago when I saw them for sale at Central Market. I was so excited that Molly sent one to me. It is definitely one of the best granola bars I’ve ever had. It actually tastes like you’re eating granola and not a super sweet candy bar (like those Chewy bars I used to love as a kid!).

Molly also sent me some dried fruit, which is a great snack when you’re not eating processed sugar because it is naturally so sweet. Little does Molly know, but white peaches are one of my all-time favorite fruits so I was psyched that she picked those for me!

I also loooove dried cherries. These came from Nature Box, the super cool company that Molly works for. It’s really hard to find good dried cherries that don’t have added sugar. These fit the bill! Thanks, Molly!

I was definitely intrigued by the sprouted sunflower seeds. They were really good too! They are crunchy with a hint of chocolate—yum! I haven’t tried Judy’s Breadsticks yet, but I’m sure they will be excellent as well.

In case you couldn’t tell, I LOVED everything that Molly sent to me. I was sooooo lucky to be paired with such an awesome Foodie Pen Pal this month. Thank you again, Molly!!

If you’re wondering what goodies I sent to my Foodie Pen Pal this month, head over to Shannon’s blog Life as a Fry to check it out!

Food Matters Project

I know this post is already super long, but since it’s Monday, today also happens to be Food Matters Project Day.

This week’s recipe was Roasted Asparagus and White Bean Soup. I’m not going to lie, this was another recipe that I was not crazy about at all. I think the main problem was that I ran out of salt and didn’t realize it until it was way too late in the game, so the soup was really bland.

I also wish that I could have pureed it before adding the asparagus. I think I would have liked it better that way. Our stuff hadn’t arrived yet when I made this though so I didn’t have my immersion blender (or any blender for that matter). My husband said it was good, but I think he was just trying to flatter me .

I served it alongside another of Bittman’s recipes—Fig, Arugula, and Prosciutto sandwich (a FAP if you will, a play on the traditional BLT). I added brie to my husband’s sandwich. We both really liked the sandwich!

I’m confident that my fellow FMP chefs were much more successful than I at this recipe so be sure to head over to Adrienne’s blog (this week’s host) to check out her beautiful rendition and get the recipe.

As always, don’t forget to stop by the Food Matters Project blog and read the comments section of this week’s post!

I’ll be back two more times this week with guest posts. After that I’ll be taking my break more seriously .