This is my second month participating in the Foodie Pen Pal.  This time I bought it for Johanne.  If you visit her blog, you can see what I sent her.  Kristen sent me my package.  When she asked me what I liked, I told her I liked cinnamon and mint.  She went to a local spice store and got me some interesting spices, flavored sugar, and honey powder. 

I’ve always been a little nervous about trying Chinese Five Spice.  Kristen sent me a bottle and advised me to use it instead of pumpkin pie spice in baked goods. 

I used it in my crockpot cranberry sauce.  So yummy!  I also made some baked oatmeal and put it in.  It was so delicious.

It was also used as a topper for popcorn.  My sons love popcorn so I air popped some and the boys ate some with butter and salt.  My portion had EVOO and Chinese Five Spice. 

Thanks Kristen, I think Chinese Five Spice is my new favorite spice blend.  :)

She also sent me a bottle of honey powder.  Hubby loves honey so he was intrigued with this.  He was pleasantly surprised by the taste. 

The night I got it, I used it in a mug of hot tea.  It added a certain depth of flavor to the tea.  It was delicious! 

The next two items are my favorite!  I love mint.  In fact, I order lattes with peppermint when I go to coffee shops.  My favorite tea is Tazo’s refresh tea which has different types of mint in it.

I had some air-popped popcorn.  It was so good.

  The last item was Ceylon “True” Cinnamon.  I love the smell and taste of cinnamon.  I make Snickerdoodles every Christmas as part of my holiday baking.  The Wee One needed cookies for a Thanksgiving feast at school.  He asked me for Snickerdoodles.  As we made the dough and then baked it, he told me it smelled like Christmas.  He identifies the smell of cinnamon as a Christmas smell.

After I opened the bag with the cinnamon in it, I kept smelling it.  At one point, I let the Wee One smell it.  He then wanted to take it outside for his friend to smell it also. 

Kristen also sent me a card with a cow on it with a wonderful note. 

Thank you again, Kristen!

I participated in a Foodie Pen Pal through the Lean Green Bean this month. You are given a name of a person you buy goodies from. Then you mail it. Another person gets your name, and they buy you goodies and mail it to you. There is a spending limit of $15. Lindsey, the coordinator, is very organized and has specific directions.

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-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your pen pall pairing via email. You will be responsible for contacting your pen pal and getting 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 pen pal!
-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 Penpals 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 the US to Canada and vice versa.

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I was paired up with Robin and Shania. For information on what I sent Robin, visit her blog at Red Robin’s Nest. Shania from Eden Flour Patch sent me my foodie care package.

Here’s a picture of all the goodies in the box.

These cookies look delicious for a work treat or in my camera bag.

When Shania asked me my likes and dislikes, I mentioned coffee – medium or light roast. This coffee is the best of both worlds. – delicious coffee and Entenmann’s pastry. I get the flavor of the pastry without all of the extra calories. When I make coffee at home, I drink it black or with Natural Bliss vanilla creamer. This will be good with that creamer.

There were 3 different kinds of Entenmann’s coffee – Hazelnut, Chocolate doughnut, and cinnamon pastry. Yum!

I have a whole basket of magnets at work to hang things up on the whiteboard. In years past, it’s been a filing system for me. When students need to finish an assignment for their regular class, I will hang it on the board. It’s so we don’t lose it, and so it’s a visual reminder for me. Some of these magnets will go in the magnet basket. Some will go on my fridge.

More coffee. After dinner, I made a cup of coffee the night I got the box. It was super delicious!

Another box of cookies. This time with chocolate. Yum!

She also sent me some tea bags. Those will be great on cool fall days.

Thanks for the great package, Shania.