October Foodie Pen Pal

Always, always late with these posts. It's been a busy week here with Alex being on vacation, us taking our first family trip, and me having a test on Wednesday. Anyway, this month my pen pal was Pam from the North Oregon Coast and she sent me a box full of goodies and even some Halloween-themed napkins. The best part is that Pam sent me Moonstruck chocolate, which is currently my favorite chocolate.

• Ocean Spray Original Craisins
• Moonstruck Milk Chocolate
• Moonstruck Dark Chocolate
• AncientHarvest Quinoa Inca Red (I already tried this and even Elina approves!)
• Black beans
• Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats
• Private Selection Oregon Marion Blackberry spread
• Jack-o-lantern napkins

For more information on Foodie Penpals visit Lindsey's blog, The Lean Green Bean. The deadline to participate for November is the 4th so head on over. Participating is fun and easy; $15 limit and you get to shop for your pen pal when you do your regular grocery shopping.

August Foodie Penapal: a healthier, fitter Me!

 Another great month of Foodie Penpal thanks to Yaitza of a healthier, fitter ME! Yaitza has gone on an amazing fitness journey (read about it here) and she has inspired me to get back into exercising. The best part of her box was that it introduced me to a lot of healthy snack foods that work perfectly as something quick to eat while on the go with the girls (my favorite: Larabar apple turnover bar). Thank you Yaitza for being my penpal this month and sending me all this great stuff:

• Naked coconut water + pineapple juice
• Luna peanut butter strawberry fiber bar
• Larabar uber apple turnover bar
• Alaska's Best king salmon jerky
• Newman's Own Organics dark chocolate
• Stretch Island Fruit Co. harvest grape & autumn apple
• Seapoint Farms dry roasted edamame
• Seneca cripsy apple chips
• Popchips jalapeno potato

For more information on Foodie Penpals visit Lindsey's blog, The Lean Green Bean. The deadline to participate for September is the 4th so head on over!

July Foodie Penpal

Two months in and I am loving Foodie Penpals. I love shopping for my penpals and I love receiving goodies from people who matched up with me. This month Ashley was my penpal and she sent me a box full of all her favorite snacks. The best part of her package was that she sent me something I have been interested in trying: Daily's Frozen Piña Colada. The second best part of her package were the yogurt raisins because it turns out Cati likes them and now I have a new snack food to offer her. Here's everything that was included in my box:

• Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds
• Crystal Light Iced Tea Peach flavor drink mix on the go
• Kashi Trail Mix Granola bars
• Sun Maid vanilla yogurt raisins
• Quakes Rice Snacks Caramel Corn flavor
• Daily's Frozen Piña Colada
• Milka Toffee Crunch

Thanks again to Ashley for taking the time to send me this great box! For more information on Foodie Penpals visit Lindsey's blog, The Lean Green Bean. It's really the easiest and funnest thing to do; you can shop for your penpal when you shop, the limit is $15, and you can even have the post office pick up the package from your home. The deadline to participate for August is the 4th so head on over and sign up.

June Food Penpals: My Penpal Maya

I am always excited getting packages in the mail! This June, I participated in Foodie Penpals, which is a food exchange organized by Lindsay Livingston at The Lean Green Bean. I was paired up with Stephanie. Stephanie took the time to ask what food items I like and don’t like before she put together a “taste of Miami” assortment of very interesting and DELICIOUS food for me! Everything was new to me, so my brain immediately went into overdrive as I imagined the ways I could use the items in my cooking. Here’s some of what came in the box: Goya spice mixes – adobo all-purpose seasoning and con azafran; Guava paste (a new favorite ingredient); Filled Guava Fingers (these have cheese in their centers!); Plantain chips; and Cuban Espresso. She even included a taste of her local community by including an issue of her local newspaper – a great and thoughtful idea! I was so excited to find the coffee and made some right away to enjoy with the plantain chips – I LOVE plantains!– while I scoured the internet for fun ways to use the other ingredients. After my research, I decided to make the following:

(1) Guava Paste & Queso Blanco Empanadas

These were so delicious, I will be including the recipe on my list of regular office pot-luck ideas! My cousin and her family were visiting when I made them, and they devoured the entire platter in minutes!  I used a recipe I found at cdkitchen. I followed the recipe as written, except I used pre-made empanada dough I found at my local grocery.

(2) Chicken Breasts sauteed in Tamari and Adobo seasoning

I rubbed some of the adobo seasoning all over a couple of chicken breasts (2 breasts), and marinated them for 4 hours. After sizzling some diced onions (1/2 of a medium) and garlic (2 cloves) in bacon fat (~2tbsp), I added the chicken to brown. Then I added some tamari (1/4 cup), water (1/4 cup) and a dash of vinegar (~2 tbsp), turned down the heat to where the sauce was barely bubbling, and allowed the chicken to simmer in the sauce for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce reduces to a somewhat viscous consistency. I served this over rice –got rave reviews!

(3) Seafood Paella spiced with the con azafran.

Simply tossed a couple of packets of the Con Azafran into my rice as it cooked – a great substitute for saffron, which is VERY expensive!

(4) Scrambled eggs with diced tomatoes and Con Azafran

Added some of the con azafran to a tomato-egg scramble – Exotically Yummy!

Thank you so much Stephanie for introducing me to some of your favorite foods and broadening my
culinary repertoire!

Happy in NOVA,

Maya

Foodie Penpals: Hearty Appletite!

This month I participated in something that's great and a lot of fun: I became a Foodie Penpal! I had seen a few of the blogs I follow participating in the past and thought it would be a great opportunity to meet other bloggers (and non-bloggers!). This month my foodie penpal was Sandra of Hearty Appletite. Sandra lives in Vancouver, Washington and she sent me a box full of goodies that are locally produced within 50 miles of her house (except the fudge). How cool is that? Everything in the box was delicious and I'll admit that I hid the fruit strips from Cati and ate them in private so I wouldn't have to share. Here's a rundown of all the things Sandra sent me:

• Dave's Killer Bread Peace Bomb Sprouted Wheat Baguette
• Cedar plank
• Moonstruck Chocolate Dark Chocolate Espresso Bean
• Stretch Island Fruit Co. All-Natural Fruit Strip: ripened raspberry, harvest grape, abundant apricot, mango sunrise flavors
• Erin Baker's The Original Breakfast Cookie Banana Walnut flavor
• Sea Lion Caves Fudge

I can't wait to participate next month and I'm so glad I was able to meet and discover another great blogger. Thanks Sandra! For more information on Foodie Penpals visit Lindsey's blog, The Lean Green Bean. The deadline to participate for July is the 4th so head on over!