Aug 312012
 

The Lean Green Bean

It’s time again for the Food Penpals monthly reveal post.  For August I was matched up with Jenny who is a delightful lady with whom I have much in common!  This was the first month when I actually had some dietary restrictions.  I felt really bad telling Jenny I had “gone paleo” in our initial email exchange, because paleo/primal is a pretty limiting lifestyle in the shippable foods department.  But, turns out, Jenny is interested in the paleo lifestyle too!  So she was ready for the challenge.  Without further delay, here are the goodies!

Top: Box crisis! Middle: salvaged letter, goodies group shop, lovely note. Bottom” Dark chocolate bar with BACON and Jewel coconut date rolls.

Okay.  Let’s talk about those top two photos.  Unfortunately, my box did not make it to my house in one piece.  One Saturday morning I got a rather frantic call from my (very) small town post office, stating that a box mailed from a company (not a person’s home) was waiting for me and was leaking an unidentifiable substance profusely.  After many phone calls, emails, and time spent Googling the company, I figured out that the box was most likely from my Foodie Pen Pal and not from someone trying to kill me with radioactive acid.  Or something.  I persuaded the post office staff to just open the box, saying “I almost guarantee if you open it, you’re gonna find a pile of some type of foodstuffs, probably snacky things, maybe some chocolate…”  They finally agreed to do so and called me back about 5 minutes later saying, “Um.  Yeah, it’s just vinegar, so we can deliver this to you today.”  Gotta love this kind of excitement in a small town.  :)   The box arrived as you see it in the photos, tied in a giant clear plastic trash bag; the bottom was completely soaked and dripping with balsamic vinegar (my favorite – weep!).  The PO staff had very graciously pulled out the uncontaminated items, including the lovely handwritten note, and placed them in separate bags so they would remain undamaged.  Alas, despite Jenny’s husband’s perfect packing job (with bubble wrap and everything!), somehow one bottle of a very nice-smelling balsamic did not survive the trip.  I had a moment of silence for it.  Then I dug into the rest!  Jenny did an excellent job; all the items she included were totally paleo/primal!  The dark chocolate bar was a very dark type with minimal natural sugar.  And it had BACON in it, the cornerstone of most paleo/primal diets!  The Jewel Date Co date rolls were so super delish and paleo-friendly; the only 2 ingredients were dried dates and unsweetened coconut!  I savored those 1 per day until they were all gone.  :)   And, the green bottle there is a bottle of really fruit olive oil with sun-dried tomato and garlic.  So far my favorite way to use this is to drizzle it on freshly steamed veggies for dinner.

Thanks Jenny for a wonderful package, despite the post office drama!  It made a good story for a lazy Saturday morning.  :)

I sent a FPP package to Lisa over at Baking Good; her blog is awesome so be sure to check her out!

Want to be a Foodie PenPal?  Click here to sign up, and here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

-On the 5th of the 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 treatsThe spending limit is $15The 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 can choose 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 & UK 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 US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

***If you’re in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved!

Aug 182012
 

 

Just wanted to send a little message out to teh interwebs to acknowledge the decided lack of new posts here on Crumbdoodles.  Here’s the bottom line: I went paleo.  I won’t go into a big, long thing about it; the short version is that I don’t eat grains, sugars, sweeteners, legumes/beans, or much dairy anymore.  (Because I know someone’s gonna ask, I do eat: meat, veggies, seeds, nuts, and fruit.)  I also have been working hard to disconnect my brain’s addiction to the concept of “cheats” and “bad food.”  This means my cooking has gotten way simpler, so simple in fact that blog posts about my recent meals, regardless of time of day (yes, even breakfast), would look like this:

Today, I bought a steak.  I put it on top of some hot coals and I cooked it.  Then I steamed 4 or 5 cups of vegetables.  I put these on a plate with the steak and then I ate it all up.

I don’t think there’s really a place on teh interwebs for that blog.  A big part of the paleo thing is how I think about food.  I’ve been taking a hiatus from food blogging because I haven’t figured out yet how I want to relate to food going forward.  I know I am happier, healthier, lighter, stronger, and faster now than I was 6 weeks ago; I also know it’s been a relief to not stress out over eating too many cookies.  When cookies aren’t even a possibility on your radar, that mental tug-of-war goes away.  So, basically, since my diet is a work in progress at the moment and Crumbdoodles is an extension of me, there’ll be a little break from posting.  Please excuse our mess while we figure out what the heck we’re doing.

Aug 032012
 

The Lean Green Bean

I am a few days late for July’s foodie penpal reveal day because….<<<Drumroll>>> my camera is currently an hour and a half away, sitting in my father in law’s pickup truck!  Boo.  I meticulously took all my photos immediately upon opening my package weeks ago so I’d be ahead of the game when posting time came.  But, apparently ahead of the game was not in the cards for me this month.  Oh well…I can still tell you about my awesome Foodie Penpal Package!

For July I was matched with the lovely Brigitt of CookwithB and what can I say?  She did an awesome job finding delicious and unusual goodies for me to try.  I really wish I had pictures to show you because some of these things look really cool.  You’ll have to use your imagination (and I’ll provide links where I can!).

  • Alter Eco Thai sticky purple rice – I mean, what?  So much fun happening here.  I am definitely making a big rice pudding with this.  Also, purple happens to be my favorite color, so wheee!
  • Yogi Chai Rooibos tea -Guess what?  This is one of my most favorite teas, and I just ran out like 2 weeks ago!  It’s hard to find up here and I hadn’t made the long trip to Southern Maine to pick up some more.  So, win!
  • Braswell’s balsamic sweet onion jam – This one especially is why I wanted the pictures.  The jam comes in this adorable reusable piece of European glassware!  I am excited to use this little glass for my weekly glass of white wine on Saturday nights.  :)   Also, this jam sounds AMAZING and I can’t wait to use some on some grilled chicken!
  • Didi Davis lemon sugar – NOM.  I love lemon and I can see the sugar being used to finish any number of delightful desserts.  I bet there’s even a way to use it in a savory dish, with a little creativity!
  • Wildfire pecan smoked sea salt with herbs – $#@!  That is all I have to say.  Okay, not really, I can say a lot more!  This stuff smells amazing.  I am planning to try it out on my dinner tonight and I expect it will taste as divine as it smells.

So thank you, thank you Brigitt for a delightful collection of goodies!  I am excited to have many new ingredients to try in my kitchen.  I am sure they will pop up from time to time in future posts of deliciousness.  :)

Now that you waded through all that horrible text with nary a photo in sight, here is a video of internet-famous Maru playing with a box.  (He’s not my cat, this is not my video, but YouTube has an embed link sooo…)

To see what I sent the also lovely Kelly, head over to Brownies&Zucchini!

Do you want to be a Foodie Penpal!  It’s easy to sign up, and so much fun!  You get matched up with two people every month: one to whom you send a package of yummy treats, and the other who sends YOU a package of goodies.  It’s like Christmas every month!  Head over to see Lindsay @ the Lean Green Bean for more details on the program.  :)

 

 

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