FPP1: Gifts from Alexis of Orlando, FL
First and foremost, a big thanks to Alexis of Fit-Possible for the lovely package she sent me this month! Now, allow me to explain what’s going on here!
Aly of Fudging Ahead sent me information on this program called Foodie Pen Pals, which is organized by Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean. This was our first month participating together, and it was such a cool project to work on that I’m already excited for next month!
You can find more information on the Foodie Pen Pals here! Basically, each month participants are paired up as pen pals between two other participants, a recipient and a gifter. It’s up to the participants to contact their recipients, determine their likes and dislikes and then put together a foodie package for them. What’s interesting about the exchange is that the person you send items to (your recipient) is not the same person that will be sending you a pen pal package (the gifter) – so while it’s not a mutual exchange, it certainly introduces variety and you get to know two new people you might not otherwise discover!
This month I was assigned Connie of Smitten Foodie as my recipient. I was thinking of sending my recipient some food gifts representative of Seattle, but it turns out she’s located in the same area! So I decided to make her some mini chocolate peanut butter cookies, as she mentioned those were her two favorite flavors. You can see her post of my package here!
Now I’d love to share what Alexis of Fit-Possible sent me! I picked up the package after returning home from the Coachella 2012 festival – what a wonderful welcome home! Alexis is a fitness-oriented food blogger in Florida with an inspirational excitement for a healthy lifestyle. What I like best about her blog is that she keeps a sort of diary on her day-to-day as she goes through various workouts and meal ideas. It’s encouraging to see someone so committed to keeping healthy and it’s also great to see her everyday nutrition ideas along with the glamorous recipes. It really helps to see that a healthy lifestyle can be more accessible than you think, so I admire her work on this. On top of all that, she’s a talented paper crafter, as you’ll soon see!
Check out the beautiful cards she sent with the package – this is what I mean about her talent with paper crafts! Her homemade recipe cards are absolutely adorable!
I had mentioned to Alexis that I admired her success with her Oatmeal Cookie Cakes – and you know what she did? She included the dry ingredients, plus the beautiful recipe card, to make them myself! It was so thoughtful of her because the ingredients are things I don’t otherwise have on hand, including teff flour and ground flax seed. So I’m grateful for the opportunity to make her recipe as soon as I have some ripe bananas – thank you so much Alexis!
Here’s some details of the recipe card! I’m excited to include this in my personal recipe box – it’ll be a fun story to share with my kids in the future when I pass the box down. (Man, I wonder what a pen pal exchange will look like in 20 years?) Make sure to check out her post for detailed in-process pictures!
As should be expected from her fabulous committment, she also sent me some great fitness treats: several samples of tea (can’t wait to try these all at the office!), a workout bar (definitely treating myself with this one after my first run this week), some pineapple coconut water (never had coconut water before – loved it! Thanks for sharing this!) and some great yogurt-covered almonds. What’s part-funny, part-awesome, is that the almonds melted in the bag while in transit so they actually formed a sort of yogurt-fudge bar. Let me tell you, I enjoyed the heck out of this “fudge” bar! You can see it in the bottom middle of the package picture above.
While I loved the entire package, this was my favorite part by far. I am so grateful to have been connected to such a talented foodie! Alexis sent me homemade Triple Berry Chia Jam. She recommends spooning it on oatmeal – and that’s exactly how this became my favorite part of the package. It’s delicious, Alexis!!
I have never made anything preserved before, so I really admire her work here and am inspired to give a jam recipe a shot the next opportunity I have. Alexis did a beautiful job decorating the jar. What a wonderful gift idea!
The number one thing I admire and seek to find in people I meet is a passion for creating and Alexis is a great example. I love her craft work and all of the food she sent over is delicious. I’m excited to make the Oatmeal Cookie Cakes, and also to send her a little something from Seattle when I have the chance because she went above-and-beyond with this wonderful package. This was a super fun introduction to Foodie Pen Pals, and I’ll definitely be participating next month. Readers, you should sign up (you don’t need a blog or twitter)… maybe I’ll get paired with you in May? 