I just noticed that I havent posted since last foodie pen pals.  Sigh! That means I really need to get into gear and start cooking again! Its been too darn hot to even consider turning on any grill or stove though.  Anyhoo! Back to the real topic…FOODIE PEN PALS!  I am so glad I stumbled upon this program because its so much fun, you connect with other foodies, and try foods youd otherwise probably pass by.  My Foodie Pen Pal this month was Madisen Trueg.

I received a spice grinder with vanilla sugar and cinnamon (Love! very strong cinnamon flavor, not all sugar taste!)

Edamame Snack Mix, Ive never seen this before, am I sheltered??

Snackle Mix (my favorite..a-d-d-i-c-t-e-d)

and a Fusion Rice Blend that I still have yet to try out!

I loved the snacks as an easy after-workout thing to munch on.  I keep forgetting that with the Snackle Mix that everything has to be in moderation, but I really love it and Im going to be terribly sad when I run out.  Note to self – find who sells this stuff!

Even the box is fun!

Haha well thank you Madisen for another successfully fun run of foodie pen pals and thank you Lindsey at the Lean Green Bean for coordinating foodie pen pals each month!

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-On the 5th of every 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 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!
-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 are 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 Penplas is open to US & Canadian 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. 

If you’re interested in participating for August, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by August 4th as pairings will be emailed on August 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

Another successful round of foodie pen pals!

Kiersten from Testing Taste Buds sent me a fantastic healthy care package!  I have made a ‘lifestyle change’ to start eating right.  Hence why you havent seen many blog posts from me lately, haha!  And by lifestyle change I mean I’ve been craving pizza and cupcakes for weeks now! It has all paid off though, 32 pounds down!  Anyhoo back on topic…

Kiersten stuck to my request of healthy goodies so I didn’t open up my little gifty box and sigh as I gave it away to family members since it wasn’t in my little diet plan.  I got to keep it all to myself.  Hooray for not sharing!

Im so excited for the ‘snacky’ items I got.  I never really buy myself snack stuff so I was probably over excited about that…

My favorite were the homemade granola bars! They were very cakey and soft and deeeelicious!  This was the first time I got a homemade snack and I really felt it added a nice touch for a foodie pen pal box.  I really want to strive to do the same for others!  Getting something homemade just made it seem more personal.  A stranger made a tasty treat just for me 🙂

I wish I could share more reviews on my treats but unfortunately a day after I got my box I had an infected wisdom tooth 🙁 Followed by an allergic reaction to the rinse for after it got pulled…sooooo its been about 9 days since Ive been able to eat anything other than jell-o and soup! I assure you I will be attacking these treats as soon as I can!  Im so glad I was able to dig into the home made goodies before things went south.  Thank you thank you!

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And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every 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 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!
-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 are 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 Penplas is open to US & Canadian 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. 

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

For those of you just tuning into Piggy Tummy, I work for a catering company in the Chicago suburbs called Sweet Baby Rays & True Cuisine.  In November my position changed at work from Operations Manager to “Operation/Sales Liason”.  Sounds fancy but it’s easier to say than rambling off a list of things that I do.  In doing this it took away a lot of duties from the sale staff as far as the nitty gritty details of how their events and parties are supposed to look.  Instead of sales people going around store to store to buy their decorations I do that.  Instead of the sales being in charge of actually assembling these things, I do that too!  There’s a point to this story I promise, stick with me here.  Anyhoo, the staff has approached  me many times saying they are having a party and they need a centerpiece/wreath/table decorations or whatever they may need – Can you make this for me?  I have done a few creative things here or there but I have never had any proper training or even a remote desire to even care how to do these things.  Party after party I got much better at fulfilling these tasks.  People would praise me and assume this is some closet hobby of mine.  Completely not true…my closet hobby is video games..there..its out.  I’m a chef and video game nerd, and apparently now a florist.  Side story over, getting-to-the-point starting now.

My mom had brought up all of her spring decorations and it was that time of the year for me to find her a centerpiece to freshen up the dining room.  I tend to just surprise her on Easter with one, but I sort of wanted an Easter themed one, and didn’t want her to just have it out for that day.  I decided to use the skills I have learned at work and actually use them in my ‘real’ life.  Crazy concept huh?  I went to Michaels Craft Store..slightly lost on how I even go about starting the project.  I knew she bought a brand new table cloth in yellow and blue so I figured..ok..I can do that!  I looked around at other centerpieces at the store that are pre-made (and looked and the prices and thought pffffft watch me make that cheaper!).  I found my basket, my greenery, assorted flowers and some cutesy Easter things to stuff in there.  I got home and stared at my items wondering if this will look great, or just as sad and pathetic as things I made for her in Kindergarten.  Either way, mom’s have to pretend its the best thing ever right?  So here goes…my first centerpiece….

Taadaaaa! Natural lil’ Martha Stewart I am!  My mom very pleased with her centerpiece, then again she had the same reaction as she did when I was a child and brought a fistful of dandelions.  I am just glad  I got over my phobia of doing floral arrangements.  My mom had a tendency to kill real flowers, so they have to be fake; however fake flowers tend to be far more expensive than real!  Now I can make my own and not spend 70$ on a basket of flowers that aren’t even real!  The sad part is the puppy did chew off the rabbits hat, and the cat chewed the side of the basket…I guess it’s the thought and over coming the fear that counts…right?

I know, I know…it’s not even Thanksgiving QUITE yet and I am already talking about Christmas gifts.  However! This gift is time sensitive so I need to share it now! However, you could also just become a closet alcoholic to get through the holidays so this would be perfect for you too!

I was thinking of a homemade gift beyond just a cookie tin to hand out this holiday.  There are so many people I deal with day to day that I want to show my gratitude with something made from scratch.  I feel that giving the extra time to make something for someone shows how important they are and that they are worth the time I took to make it for them.  I remembered that when I stayed with my uncle in Florida he showed me how to make his Kahlua.  I thought that a little bit of homemade liquor would be perfect for the stressed out boss, the over-tired moms, and disgruntled family members too!  The only catch with this recipe is the longer it sits the tastier it gets.  I would have preferred over a month to let it sit but I figured it will still be as tasty.  This is why I had to share it with you so soon!  It’s very simple to make and definitely worth the waiting time!

Homemade Kahlua

Yields 2 – 750ml bottles

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups vodka
• 1-2 vanilla beans
• 1/2 cup instant coffee

First combine water and sugar and let simmer to create a simple syrup

When mixture gets hot enough, add instant coffee and mix well

Cut vanilla beans in half lengthwise.  You can either add the whole bean unscraped or for a more vanilla flavor scrape vanilla ‘pods’

from the bean into mixture and mix well.

Set aside mixture and let cool.  A crust may form on top, skim that off with a small strainer and discard.

After cooling and skimming, add the magic! I mean..vodka!

A high grade vodka is not necessarily needed for this.  The flavor will be so covered up anyhow.  I just used what was on hand.

Next, fill your bottles to the neck of each bottle and leave half of a vanilla bean (or a full one depending on size) in each bottle.  Since I had so many bottles to fill I had a mish mash of different bottles.  I bought a case bulk from the internets, I found 5 fancy colored bottles from a resale shop, and 5 swing top bottles from the Container Store.  I hand made each label with creative festive beverage names.  The rubber bands around the bottles are to assure the glue binds to the bottle and my label doesnt keep coming unstuck.

Decorate your bottles however you like and they are ready to be given as gifts or to enjoy by yourself (and..family..i guess..)

The longer it sits the better it’ll be..1-2 months preferred.

Some names I came up with:

Bah Hum Booze

Yultide Toddy

Reindeer Drinking Games

Holiday Spirit

Jolly Juice

Santas Little Helper

Tasty Tidings

Let me know what creative names you come up with!

Have a happy Thanksgiving Everyone!