May Foodie Penpal

Apologies in advance as these pictures are awful! It was dark and I was excited to eat stuff and….ok I’ve got no more excuses, I just wanted to stuff my face with it! 🙂

This month I was paired with the lovely Marie from the East Midlands 🙂 she must have got right inside my head because the parcel she sent me was just perfect! Every single thing in it was just ‘me.’ 😀

I was sending my parcel all the way over to Germany this month to Pia. I sent her lots of lovely goodies that she can’t get in Germany 😛 (lots of cheeky chocolate and crisps) hehe!

First to be grabbed eagerly from the package were these two gems. CHILLY POPCORN! Aaaaaaah! I love popcorn, and I love chillies! I am so excited to have this! I need to share it though, otherwise I’d eat the whole packet myself! (although it is only just over 400kc :P). And lentils ❤ Ready to eat to add to salads and soups and roast veg and veggie burgers! The lists are endless. I had just opened a similar bag when this arrived, so I’m working my way through that packet first, then I’ll jump right in! Lentils help me up my protein intake and are really good to fill you up when you can’t eat too many carbs (i.e.: me), thank you so much!

Noodles! And Naked bars! Not together, but oh dear me! I love them! I had the naked bars last weekend. I love every single naked bar! If anyone out there hasn’t tried them, do it now! They are 100% natural ingredients, no added sugary crap you have in normal cereal bars, just pure perfect dried fruit and nuts ❤ The pecan one is one of my favourites too! The noodles, if you can’t quite see in the picture are wheat and gluten free brown rice noodles. Rice is one of the easiest carbs for my stomach to digest so these are just perfect! I bet they will work perfectly in a firecracker noodle bento too!!

 

Next is two thing which I can not wait to try! Healthy hot chocolate! Yes please!! 😀 I don’t drink hot chocolate very often but this one will chill me out so gimme!! 🙂 The liquid marinade sounds divine! I will have to use it when I next do a stir fry, and marinate the chicken before putting it in the stir fry. The flavours are just what I like, and very japanesey! I know that’s not a word, I just got excited 🙂

 

And lastly BBQ peri peri seasoning rub. I really like Nandos, but I don’t go there very often. I used this spice rub on some chicken fillets at the weekend that my bf and I had with a homemade mango salsa. It went brilliantly and I love the BBQ hotness! And then the beautiful dried black olives 😀 Gone! 😀 haha. I loved them and my mum said I smelt because I ate too many (they have garlic on them), but I didn’t care because they were so good!

Thank you so much Marie, the parcel was amazing! Thank you for knowing just what I like 😀

Late Foodie Penpal!

Oh I am terrible! 3 days late! I was meant to schedule it, but I’ve been so busy! :S bad me!! 😦

Anyway, this month I was paired with Alex from Trending Recipes 😀 She lives over in Portugal so I was super excited to see what portuguese surprises her parcel had to offer. Her blog is full of tasty recipes and treats too, so before I got the parcel I couldn’t stop reading it (and dribbling over it)!! I sent a parcel this month to Susie from Susie’s Tummy Tales (a fellow bento blogger!!) who lives in Birmingham, but lived in Japan for a little bit :O (jealous).

Firstly, I asked Alex to send me anything that she liked and used in Portuguese dishes as I was intrigued to find out a bit more about the cuisine and foods (me being very un-travelled). She sent these lovely cork matts for hot pans and cookware that I cant wait to use (as I am always getting told off for wanting to put hot pots straight on the side).

Some portuguese pudding mixes, which I think are a bit like blancmange. I was going to make them last weekend, but I didn’t get chance so I’m thinking when the family pop round on Sunday, this will be the pudding 🙂

Sardines, white wine port and piri piri sauce! What more could you ask for 🙂 I am going to use some of these in bentos in the next couple of weeks as I love sardines (and most tinned fish). I’ll be getting my dad to help me decide what to do with the white wine port (nom nom).

And finally jam!! 😀 When I have oats, I love to put jam and peanut butter on top! So this is definitely where this will be used!

Thank you so much Alex! I loved the yummy package you sent me, thank you again and enjoy your weekend everyone!

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Foodie Penpal Reveal Day

Today is Foodie Penpal Reveal day!!

I signed up to the Foodie Penpal thingy last month and it’s so good! If you’re in the UK or Europe, check it out on Rock Salt!

Anyway, this month I was paired with Anna from Plymouth (to receive a parcel from) and I was sending a parcel to Fay from Leeds.

This is what I received from Anna!

The description of the contents of my package was on a cute little Puffin postcard!

She included mini loaf cases, which I can’t wait to use! I love baking cute cakes and biscuits! Bite size and miniature is always more fun!

The almonds are gone already! They were so yummy! They were roasted in Tamari (soy sauce) to with my blog theme!! The chocolate sounds tasty, and I may have to hide that from my Dad, he loves dark choc! I’m going to save it for when I start learning more programming stuff at work to help my brain!

Sweeties!! I have never tried sweets like this before, my mum says they are too nice for me to eat 😉 haha! I see what she’s getting at!

To go show me the wonders of the miniture loaf cases, a homemade Chocolate, cherry and almond loaf!! I’m going to share that with the bf tonight!

And mini cooky cutter/stamps!! I can’t wait to use these to make mini shortbread biscuits or gingerbread. They are adorable!!

Thank you so much Anna for my lovely Foodie Penpal Parcel, I loved it all!!

Have you had exciting Foodie Penpal Parcels or other food/box subscriptions recently?

Foodie Penpal Reveal Day!

Today is Foodie Penpal Reveal Day!!

I received a parcel from the lovely Gale and I sent a parcel to Rachel. It was my first time doing the Foodie Penpal thing and I loved both choosing what to put in the package to send and receiving more yummy stuff!!

I think Gale had a sneak peak at my blog as the items she included in my package were spot on! It was Gale’s first time doing the Foodie Penpal too, and I think she did amazing!

She included a letter outlining the reasons why she chose all the yummy things she did, as well as a recipe for her homemade gorgeous toffee bar (a taster of which was taking pride of place in my package!).

Gale sent me some super cute stickers as well as the lovely food! These will go with my sticker collection 😀 How did she know I have a collection?

I think the pancake mixes were the big hint she’d read my blog 🙂 I love pancakes!! I have used both packs already 🙂 With the maple syrup and nice crispy bacon for a weekend breakfast.

Gale is American (located in Surrey however), so she chose Betty Crocker! You can’t go wrong with that!

Maple is a huge treat for my house! Thank you so much Gale! Now I have to fight my parents and brother for it! 🙂

She also packed a HUGE bar of galaxy! Wow, that is going to last me aaaagggees!!

Then came the toffee bars…

The were phenomenal! Notice the past tense used. They are gone! I shared them as much as I could as I would have finished the whole box by myself! They have an amazing ‘secret’ ingredient and I have yet to try out the recipe for myself, but when I do, the world will love me.

I was so excited to receive my first Foodie Penpal Parcel, thank you so much again Gale! I can’t wait for next month!

If you like the sound of Foodie Penpals you should check out the scheme. It is run by the very lovely Carol Ann over at thisisrocksalt, read more about it here (UK and Europe only).