Won't you be my Foodie Penpal?

Foodie Penpals is one of the best concepts ever created. Ok, so I appreciate indoor plumbing, electricity, computers and airplanes quite a bit. But for a huge foodie like me, I totally LOVED this whole process. Check out The Lean Green Bean for more information and to sign up for next month. Hurry, if you want to participate in August.

Today (the last day of the month) is reveal day. My foodie penpal was Ashley over at Cardio, Cats and Cooking. Ashley is a pretty cool girl! We found that we have quite a bit in common. We exchanged emails to discuss timing (since both of us were going out of town during the month) and my food preferences. Since I eat Paleo at least 80% of the time (100% when training for an Ironman or 70.3), I let her know what I generally eat and what I stay away from. She used her creativity to put together an incredible box of goodies. Plus, she included handwritten notes all over the various items.

Here's a rundown of what I received:

• Naked Mango-Peach Coconut Water 
  
• 5 packets of Yogi Bedtime tea
• Endangered Species Dark Chocolate Bar with Cacao Nibs
• Assorted Justin's Nut Butters (Chocolate Hazelnut and Maple Almond)
• ALT Pumpkin Pie bar (not quite Paleo, but pretty clean ingredients - so I will be enjoying this after a workout sometime)
• Cranberry Almond Kind bar (also not Paleo, but very close)

I already dug into the nut butter. I put a packet of the Maple Almond on my sweet potato the other night. It tasted fantastic. A neat fact about Justin's is that it's made right up the road from me in Boulder, CO. I love supporting local companies. I'll be buying some more of the Justin's nut butters in the future. 

I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the goodies, but am a bit sugared-out at the moment. My 2-week trip to France included many non-Paleo indulgences (ice cream, pain au chocolat, fruit tarts, crepes, etc). I'm eating pretty strict Paleo and cutting down on sugar intake for the time being. 

Even so, I'm already looking forward to next month. Perhaps next month I request savory items (kale chips, nuts, etc). Will you be my penpal? 

500 fan giveaway - Paderno Spiralizer

Source: Amazon.com

Win a Paderno Spiralizer Tool!

The Paleo Network has reached 500 fans on Facebook! Thank you all for liking my page and following some of my cooking adventures. I do realize things have been a bit quiet lately, but they will pick up significantly starting in August. I have a series that will be starting the first week of August called "The ABCs of Paleo." It will involve a new recipe every week for 26 weeks (for each letter of the alphabet). I will be highlighting a different ingredient (or dish if the letter is extremely difficult) each week that starts with that letter of the alphabet and ask for you all to play along with me and create recipes using the same "special" ingredient each week. For example, "A" could be apple, avocado, asparagus, artichoke, etc. Each week will be a new letter to come up with new dishes. 

Onto the giveaway... 

I debated between a few different items and ended up deciding on the spiralizer. I just started using mine a few weeks ago and have had so much fun with it! I've made "zoodles" (zucchini noodles), yellow squash noodles and spiralized some sweet potatoes. It comes with three different blades (small, medium and straight blade for ribbons). It's a fabulous tool that I use regularly and want to share the opportunity with one of you to win your very own. 

How do you win? 

1. Mandatory: Sign up for my blog via email by typing your email address in the box on the upper right-hand side of the blog page. 

2. Mandatory: Like my Facebook page. 

3. Extra: Post a comment stating what you'll make first if you win the spiralizer. 

4. Extra: Follow me on Twitter. 

5. Extra: Tweet this giveaway.

Be sure to enter through the Rafflecopter app below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Notes:

• Once the winner has been notified, you will have 48 hours to respond. If no response received within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected. 
• This is not a sponsored giveaway, I am personally paying for this item.
• Giveaway is open to US residents only, 18 years of age and older. Sorry non-US fans! I'll do my best to snag some giveaways for you in the future. 

Best of luck!