It is Reveal Day for August's FPP Program !!!

Key points of the program:

-On the 5th of the month, you  receive your penpal pairing via email. You contact  your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You  have to mail your box of goodies by the 15th of the month. On the last day of the month, you post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are  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!

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents. 

This month my foodie pen-pal was Jessica , who lives in Ohio. Jessica put a lot of thought into my goodie box. She sent me items that are Ohio legends. Jessica does not have a blog.

First up was Ester Price chocolates , they did not last long enough to be included in the picture. The chocolates were handmade and had a smooth finish. You can order these amazing chocolates online.
 https://www.estherprice.com/category/Candy_Key


One of the most intriguing items in my goodie box was skyline chili. I love a good chili. This chili is very different than any chili I have had before. It is a meat based sauce that is thinner than a southern or Texas style chili. The sauce had a sweet and savory flavor, you could pick up on hints of cinnamon. I researched the restaurant that is the namesake for this chili. The restaurant has it's origins from Greek food. They serve it over spaghetti noodles and top it with tons of cheddar cheese. On their website they offered serving suggestions in addition to the traditional over spaghetti. I copied one of their recipes and posted it below. I will be ordering this chili for delivery. Thank you Jessica for getting me hooked on this product. 
http://www.skylinechili.com/

Our Famous Skyline Chili Dip

One 12 oz. package softened cream cheese
One 13 oz. frozen Skyline Chili thawed OR one 15 oz. can of Skyline Chili
¼ cup diced onions (optional)
12 oz. Skyline shredded mild cheddar cheese

Spread softened cream cheese evenly on bottom of 9 x 13 microwaveable casserole dish. Heat chili according to package directions. Pour heated Skyline Chili over cream cheese. Sprinkle diced onions (optional) on top of chili. Cover with Skyline shredded mild cheddar cheese.

Conventional oven: heat at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.

Microwave oven: heat on high for 2 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.

Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with nacho or corn chips


Olde Cape Cod Oyster Crackers: These were the surprise of the box. I thought oh crackers I like crackers and I have had oyster crackers before, but none likes these. Jessica recommended eating these with some of the Frank's Red Hot sauce drizzled on them. These crackers had so much flavor, but were lite and crisp. The Frank's pushed the flavor over the top. This is another product that I am going to have to order online no other oyster cracker stands up to these. 

Montgomery INN BBQ sauce- This sauce was thick and tangy, it had the taste of a long cooked BBQ sauce  that simmered for days , with ripe tomatoes, garlic , onion  and spices. This sauce is great on chicken.  This sauce is the offspring of another Ohio Restaurant The Montgomery INN , they have an online serves that you can order sauce and ribs for deliver across the country   http://www.montgomeryinn.com/order-cincinnati-foods-cincyfavorites.php

Frank's Red Hot Sauce is sold here in NC but I had never tried it before, being a Texas Pete girl ( Texas Pete is made here in NC). Frank's had a great flavor , a good vinegar undertone. Though Frank will never replace Pete in my heart , there is room for Frank's on my pantry shelf.

Ok, so for the Bacon salt, this was a great treat. The flavor is not over powering and can be used on many things such as garlic toast, popcorn and grilled chicken.

I had a great time with this goodie box and learned a lot about famous foods in Ohio , thank you Jessica for this amazing box.  I loved that Jessica sent a lovely hand written note with notes on how she uses these products and the history of the products.

I recently had the pleasure of trying some amazing teas from the  Charleston Tea Plantation. Their teas are grown just outside of Charleston SC on Wadmalaw Island. In 1963 tea plants, ( camellia sinensis ) ,  that had been propagated to produce American grown tea in Summerville SC back in 1888 to 1915 were relocated to Wadmalaw Island.  In 1987, 24 years after the tea plants were transplanted to their current home, commercial production of American Classic Tea began under the direction of William Barclay Hall. 

Camellia sinensis plant,  the flower and seeds 

The Charleston Tea Plantation is a green company that helps maintain the beautiful island of Wadmalaw as close to it's natural state as possible. They do not use any pesticides(herbicides, fungicides or insecticides) in their fields. Their irrigation system uses rain water and pond water for their plants. The remains from the tea plants once the tea is produced is used as a natural mulch which supports healthy soil. 


The  plantation is open to the public for tours 7 days a week except on holidays , you can  tour the factory, tea fields and the store. 

Now for the teas.

 The first tea I tried was the Classic Black tea. I followed the directions for cold-brewed tea. I added two tea bags to cold water and let it sit over night. The next day I had some of the best Iced Tea. There was no biter taste that you sometimes find with black teas and no "tea dust" in the container. Charleston teas are really teas leaves not the tea dust that you find in competitors tea bags. The "pyramid" tea bags are high quality not bleached paper.

The Charleston Breakfast Tea was a great addition to our Sunday Brunch. We drank this tea hot with a little sugar and cream. 

The Governor Gray , was great served warm and had a nice lite citrus undertone. 

Now for one of the stars of the show , the Plantation Peach. This tea smells heavenly and has a fresh , sweet peach taste. There is no weird artificial flavor like you find in some fruit flavored teas. It is great served Iced or hot and does not need any add sweetener. This tea is a great addition to dessert as well as summer meals from the grill.

The Raspberry tea is great hot or cold and goes well with dessert or in place of dessert. It has a great raspberry flavor  and is naturally sweet.

I loved this tea served hot with a dash of sugar in the raw. It is great in the morning to wake you up or at the end of the day. Natural mint flavor does not have that strange medicinal flavor that some mint teas have.This tea cane also be served iced and used as a mixer in a mint julep 





Charleston Teas are sold loose in tins or in individually wrapped "pyramid" tea bags. Their teas are amazing and a great go to gift as well as an everyday product.

In addition to teas the plantation store sells body products that are made with tea from the plantation. 



http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/

In January I began a food blog to share my passion for cooking and food. I love to cook and have always liked to use fresh ingredients and whole foods instead of instant products. As I got more into posting blogs and really looking at the food I cooked with I realized not all foods are created equal. Many times we think we are providing  healthy meals to our families and loved ones by cooking at home, but many products don't have the nutritional value we think they do. Over the last seven months I have really started looking at the products I use,  researching how things are made and where they come from. I have started making changes in the way I cook and products I use, to move to a cleaner, healthier lifestyle and when possible supporting local artisans (I know that word is usually used for things produced by artists but to me food is art and creation). 

Sometimes we don't have to time to cook or just want a quick snack , there are billions of snack foods available in the market place and in the past  I have grabbed snacks that have no redeeming qualities but since starting my food research I have found snacks that are really about the quality of the food. ( Disclaimer : I am sure once in awhile I will eat a snack that is not "real food"in the future, I never said I was a saint, I am just trying to be a more concise consumer)

I contacted Stacey at LARABAR about their different product lines they offer and received a sample of some of their most popular bars. Over  a course of four weeks I have tasted each of the bars that I received and have provided my thoughts on taste , along with information from the company about ingredients and what each product  line is all  about. 

.LÄRABAR® is really about healthy eating without sacrificing taste. As a foodie we don't always "eat to live" , we eat to enjoy, socialize and discover, to us the eating is the living. 

The LARABAR product line is made up of no more than nine ingredients all of which you can pronounce and identify without a chemistry degree. They use unsweetened fruits (what nature provides) , nuts and spices. All of their products are made with whole foods, not genetically modified "foods" produced in a lab. 

The first bar I tried was the Apple Pie, this bar is made of : real apples, dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins and cinnamon. The bar was chewy not overly sweet and tasted like a warm apple pie. The cinnamon provided the warmth. This bar was a good snack in the evening.  The LARABAR website states this bar has a half a cup of fruit and 5 grams of fiber.

The cashew cookie bar is made of only two ingredients , dates and cashews. It was a amazing that a bar with only two ingredients packed so much flavor.  The bar was soft and had a nice nutty taste. This was an after dinner treat.

LÄRABAR über® was the second product line I tried. This line is made up of bars that cover your sweet and salty cravings. Like the regular LARABAR they are made of whole fruits and nuts.

The Roasted nut bar was a great snack to have while watching movies, it provided the right mixture of salty and sweet with the crunch that we all crave from time to time. This bar was very filing and keep me satisfied. It is made of: almonds, cashews, peanuts , pecans , macadamia nuts, brown rice syrup, dates, honey and sea salt.

This bar was a real treat , it had that good chewiness that you want from a macaroon with all the rich coconut flavor. This bar is made of: almonds, dates, brown rice syrup, toasted coconut, macadamia nuts, cashews honey, pecans and sea salt.

 The ALT®, the Alternative Protein Bar™, is one of the newer lines. This bar has added protein. The protein in these bars do not come form soy or whey but from peas.

This is a hearty snack bar, that has a zing of lemon , with a nice nutty flavor. I had this bar for breakfast and was satisfied until a late lunch. It has 10 grams of protein, that keeps you full. The bar is made of : dates, almonds, pea protein, brown rice syrup,brown rice flour, sunflower oil, lemon juice and  vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Cookie  contains 10 grams of protein  and is rich in peanut butter flavor. This bar was great for lunch on the go. This bar is made from :dates, peanuts, pea protein, brown rice syrup, brown rice flour and sunflower oil.

 There is another line called Jŏcalat®  which is an organic chocolate snack bar. It is made from fruits, nuts and Fair Trade chocolate.  I have not tried this product line but it is on my shopping list.

It is Reveal Day for July's FPP Program !!!

Key points of the program:

-On the 5th of the month, you  receive your penpal pairing via email. You contact  your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You  have to mail your box of goodies by the 15th of the month. On the last day of the month, you post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are  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!

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents. 

My Foodie Pen Pal for July  was Melissa whose blog can be found at  :  http://www.baconrunner.com/

 This Month I received a wonderful Greaves Raspberry Jam, Lemon Poppy Seed Scone mix , loose leaf tea and a mildly spicy seasoning mix.

The Jam was thick , rich and not overly sweet it was everything you want from a Raspberry jam.

I have not brewed the loose tea yet, since this variety is better served hot and July's temperatures have not provide a day for hot tea yet.

The Seasoning mix was really good on chicken breast cooked on the grill.

The lemon Scones where baked and served with the Jam , they  had a nice mild lemon taste and the jam added an extra punch.