Hey guys!

Hope you are all getting your entries in for the incredible
NuNaturals Giveaway! 
Remember, not one, not two, but FOUR winners will be chosen randomly and announced next Friday!

So, can you believe today is the LAST day of June?

I can’t get over how fast this year seems to be flying by! And without a doubt, you can tell that summer has come to Tennessee!

Yep, that would be the temperature reading from Elvira just the other day…not taking into account the 400% humidity!

Wanna know another way I can tell it’s summer?

Last week, when my Foodie Pen Pal package arrived on my doorstep, I had more than one surprise waiting for me…

When Lindsey from Live Love Nutrition asked me what I was interested in for this month’s foodie swap, I told her I was looking for some quick on-th-go snackage for those unfortunate days at the hospital where it is just impossible to catch a break.

She sent me a couple of Lara Bars and these convenient nut and trail mix packets from Trader Joe’s that have settled quite nicely in my locker at work for those “I feel like I’m going to gnaw my own arm off” emergencies! 😉

As for the other surprise…

I shake my fist at you, Mother Nature!

Too bad she didn’t send eggs…they would have been perfectly fried by the time they arrived! 😉

But seriously, thank you for the treats, Lindsey!

Luckily, the package I sent off to former blogger, Esther, arrived safe, unbroken, and unmelted. She no longer blogs regularly, but she was so gracious to type up a guest post to showcase all of her pen pal goodies!

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Hi!  I’m Esther, and this was my fourth month participating in the Foodie Pen Pals program started by the amazing Lindsay over at the Lean Green Bean.

This month I had the pleasure of being paired up with Heather, and I could not have been more pleased.  Right from the start her emails made me smile and when I started reading her blog, I knew I was going to be in for a treat.  Heather’s approach to food and nutrition are so fun and are very similar to mine.  I told her I was interested in healthy, but delicious, snacks, and that I was open to trying new things.  She even offered to send me a sample of a fun new-to-me ingredient to that I might have been wanting to try out in the kitchen.  Perfect!  For a long time now my fiance and I have been cooking primarily vegetarian and vegan meals, but I had yet to venture into the world of nutritional yeast.  So, I requested that she send some along!

I received my foodie pen pal box upon returning home from dinner late one night, and despite being stuffed from dinner, I could not wait to dig in.

The goods:
Pure fruit and nut bar, a Honey Peanut Pretzel Lunabar, a Caramel Peanut Simply Bar, a Power Crunch chocolate wafer bar, a box of Wasa crackers, honey whole wheat puffs, Vidalia Onion Peach hot sauce, Guy Fieri salsa, two flavors of awesome Happy Squeeze fruity protein blend, Oogie’s gourmet popcorn (in chili lime flavor!), Calico Bunch cereal and….nooch!  I also got an awesome card from Heather with her favorite ways to enjoy some of the treats.

Fact: It IS time!

So, ordinarily I share my bounty with my fiance, but this time around I hoarded all the bars for myself.  He was jealous, but dutifully accepted a couple of Lunabars as a consolation prize, once I assured him that he wouldn’t grow boobs from eating a “women’s” protein bar.

My favorite of the bars was the Power Crunch – it basically was a giant chocolate wafer cookie, and I may or may have scraped the chocolate from inside the wrapper.  In public.  The honey wheat puffs have been enjoyed with peanut butter and almond butter and just plain.

We’ve been traveling a lot, so we haven’t done much cooking at home, but plans are in the works for the salsa, hot sauce, and, of course, nutritional yeast!  Heather recommended sprinkling it on popcorn or veggies, and I found a recipe for vegan spanakopita that I’m going to make to try it out as well.  The Oogie’s popcorn will be making a sneak appearance at the movie theater when we go to see Brave this weekend for my birthday
(being a redhead with curly hair, this movie has been too long in coming).

***

Thank you SO much Ester for taking the time to write up this post! I’m so glad you liked all your goodies and I CAN’T wait to hear what you think of the nooch…and the movie!

Redheads unite!…Wait, we should invite Sarah first! 😉

So, like what you see? Or, since this is the first time you’ve seen what kind of packages leave MY house, jealous of the former recipients? Well lucky for you, Lindsey, the brains behind the operation, has a pen pal for everyone!

Program Deets:

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!

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.

Click HERE to sign up for July!

 What’s the weather been like for you guys?

Any tips for keeping Elvira’s hot ass black leather seats from giving my thighs third degree burns?…

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “burning fat” ROTFLOL!