Foodie Pen Pals September

This month I was sooooo excited to be paired up with Ceecee from Within the Kitchen  She was one of my first foodie pen pals back in May and she sent me another box of wonderful goodies just like she did back then.  I was so happy that this month's foodie pen pals was another where we were sending to the same person from whom we were receiving our packages.  That means I got to return the favour.  If you'd like to see what I sent to Ceecee, check out her blog

So here's what I got this month...

 Here's what it looked like when I opened the package topped with a hand-written note :)

These beans will definitely be making their way into a homemade soup soon!

Yummy spicy plantain chips!

This will be going into a Thai curry or spicy Thai soup for sure.

I haven't tried this yet, but I can't wait to see how it tastes.

This has already been gobbled up!  Ceecee suggested I put it on yogourt, so I sprinkled it on my fruit and kefir and it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!

I had goji berries on my shopping list, so these came at exactly the right time!

Once again, this was a perfect foodie pen pal package.  Hopefully I'll get Ceecee again :)

If you'd like to exchange packages with another foodie just click on the link at the top of this page or click here

Homemade Almond Milk

I've been meaning to write this post for months and finally got around to it today.  This isn't a recipe per se, it's just a quick how-to.  I cannot vouch for how this would work with other juicers, but it is just so easy-peasy with the Hurom juicer that I had to share for those of you who may own one and not realize that you can use it to make almond milk.

It takes hardly any time and clean-up is just a matter of quickly rinsing the pieces of the juicer.  The most time-consuming part is waiting for the almonds to soak :)

 The first step is to soak a cup of raw almonds for a minimum of 4 hours or up to overnight.  Be sure to drain and rinse them after soaking.

Then it's as easy as putting your almonds into a container with 4 cups of filtered water and passing the liquid and nuts through the juicer until all is used up.  I use a half-cup measure to get some almonds and some water in each scoop.

You will end up with a lovely, big container of freshly-squeezed almond milk

 And a bowlful of almond pulp.  I'll post a recipe soon using this leftover pulp!

August Foodie Pen Pals

 

I seem to be writing Foodie Pen Pals posts and not much else these days.  However, I'm embarking on a new adventure this month, so I hope to have lots of interesting info. and recipes to share once I get into the swing of things.  I'll post more about it soon.

So, it's another foodie pen pal post for now and this month I was paired with Kim in Toronto.  For the first time since I've joined Foodie Pen Pals, everyone on the list was sending to the same person from whom they were receiving their package.  It was a lot of fun to know that I was putting together goodies for Kim while she was shopping for me.  

I apologize that this post is a little late.  We have been away for the weekend attending a family wedding and although the B & B we are staying at was supposed to have free wi-fi, it was so weak that I wasn't able to use it.  Luckily, we decided to take a few hours to ourselves this morning and found a Starbucks to relax in.  So this is what I'm doing with my Starbucks time before heading back for a family campfire :)

Anyway, onto the reason for this post.  Here's the package I received from Kim...

A sneak peek at the goodies inside :)

 

Kim included a beautiful hand-written card

 I told her that I like spicy foods and she listened

 Of course you need some organic tortilla chips to go with salsa!

 And a Mexican rice mix

 Some tex-mex seasoning

 And some chocolate treats to temper the spicy treats :)

 All of the yummy treats!

If this seems like fun to you, head over to Lindsay's blog and sign up for September foodie pen pals.  It's so much fun!