Be True to Your Values: Scrumptious Pantry #Giveaway

 We were so flattered the first time a company approached us to do a product giveaway that we didn't think twice about saying "yes." We may have even gotten a bit giddy about it. As new bloggers, it made us feel valued to have garnered the attention of large, national corporations. It was exciting. And fun. And sometimes delicious.

But, after writing a review or two about products we wouldn't necessarily have purchased of our own accord, we decided we needed to create some standards for the acceptance of free product. After all, this was OUR blog, and it should reflect our values, our tastes. In our case, we decided to focus our energies on supporting locally made products, preferably those that were organic or produced in a sustainable fashion. So, blogging lesson number two for us was: be true to your values.

Interestingly enough, we were recently approached by a Chicago-based company called Scrumptious Pantry who was interested in a collaboration. Scrumptious Pantry is a company that takes hand-grown ingredients from family farms in the Midwest, California, and Italy and prepares them in small batches, using recipes that are deeply rooted in the culinary heritage of the region.

We fell in love with them when we found that they had recently launched a line of pickled heirloom vegetables, including the Wisconsin-bred Beaver Dam Pepper. The mildly spicy heirloom variety was introduced to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin by an Hungarian immigrant around 1913.  But, the cultivation of the pepper was soon left on the wayside in favor of more easy-to-grow varietals. The pepper is now listed among 200 fruit and vegetable varieties in Slow Food's Ark of Taste, a catalog of delicious foods in danger of extinction. Fortunately, Wisconsin farmers like John Hendrickson at Stone Circle Farm and Nicole Schauer at Good Earth Farm took up the challenge to grow these peppers and supply them to Scrumptious Pantry.

Beaver Dam Pepper Pickles are fantastic eaten out of hand, so you know they also make an excellent accompaniment for cheese or charcuterie. They're delicious atop a pulled pork or Italian beef sandwich, or as part of a Greek salad.

But, they're also extremely tasty as an accompaniment to one of Peef's famous bloody marys.

The most recent rendition of this fabulous brunch drink also contains another Scrumptious Pantry product -- their smoky, slightly tangy Cranberry Catsup made with tomatoes from Happy Valley Farm and cranberries from Fine Vine Organics.  If you think regular ketchup is good on a burger, wait until you've tried this stuff. Smoky, slightly sweet, and deliciously robust, this is one catsup that's not to be missed.  And -- oh! -- did we mention how good it is on sweet potato fries??

As far as catsup in a bloody mary goes... The cranberries add a subtley fruity flavor, while the chipotles add a subtle smoky heat. A bit of brine from the Beaver Dam Peppers takes the drink to a whole new level.

Cranberry Chipotle Bloody Mary with Beaver Dam Peppers


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Once again, we couldn't end this post without leaving you with a little bit of something in celebration of our 5th Burp-Day. This is the second of five... make that seven giveaways taking place on the blog all through the month of June. So come back often, and come hungry!


First-- ALL of our readers can take advantage of 20% off on Scrumptious Pantry's site starting today and going through June 25th, 2012.  To take advantage of this offer, use the code EatBurp at the checkout at the Scrumptious Pantry Online Store.

Second, three (3) lucky readers will win Scrumptious Pantry gift baskets containing TWO bottles of Cranberry Catsup (one smoky, one earthy) and TWO jars of heirloom pickles (Beaver Dam Peppers and Pickled Beets).

To enter, simply visit Scrumptious Pantry and tell us which product in their line you'd most like to try. For a bonus entry, stop by their Facebook page and give them a like.  Be sure to leave us a comment letting us know you did just that.

You'll have until NOON on June 30, 2012 to enter. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by email, so please leave your email addy with your comment if it's not included with your Blogger profile. Entries from the U.S. only, please.

As an added bonus, since June is Dairy Month, all entrants will ALSO be entered to win a grand prize assortment of hand-selected Wisconsin cheeses.


Full Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by Scrumptious Pantry, who provided us with the products for our giveaway. However, all opinions expressed in this post are our own.

©BURP! Where Food Happens

Iced Coffee with Lemon Verbena Syrup

Having enjoyed our first cups of coffee hot with breakfast (despite the 80ºF weather), we decided to switch over to iced coffee when we engaged in a bit of afternoon reading.

With all this fuss about using our infusions, the idea arose, why not add a bit of lemon verbena syrup? To see how it tasted?
And how did it taste?
Well, you really must try it for yourself, but I would compare it (in some ways) to a chai latte. Definitely herbal. With a hint of citrus. And a lovely aroma.

I'm pleased to report that the last few chapters of The Hummingbird's Daughter (Urrea) were greatly sweetened by a cup of this fantastic infusion.
Delicioso café!
Lemon Verbena Iced Coffee


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Mad About Infusions

After reading all about rosemary simple syrup, I had to try it out for myself. So, we mixed up a batch this weekend.

I'm afraid it was dreadfully simple -- just sugar, water, and sprigs of rosemary.But the SMELL!!
If you've never tried this yourself, I'd highly recommend it -- for the lovely aroma alone! You could not get me OUT of the kitchen while this was steeping.

So, while I was there, I decided to try it with lemon verbena as well!
Now, my fridge is filled with infusions... and I'm looking for recipes.

So far, we've enjoyed one new creation -- a "vodka fizz" of sorts featuring vodka, rosemary syrup, lemon juice, a splash of vermouth, and some grapefruit flavored sparkling water. The drinks were refreshing, a bit sweet, and quite herbal. Oh, yes -- and visually appealing. Especially when garnished with a nice, fresh rosemary sprig (which also added nicely to the "bouquet" of the drink, underscoring the rosemary flavor).
I've zeroed in on a few other ideas --a cocktail with rosemary and gin, a lemon verbena "fizz"... maybe even a rosemary watermelon concoction. Oh, yes -- and a good friend suggested I try using the lemon verbena syrup as a glaze for muffins or quickbread... which sounds rather inspiring.

What do you think?

Vodka Rosemary Fizz

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A Kir for What Ails You

Our last CSA share included a lovely basket of red currants. We were pretty excited... but we didn't quite know what to do with them.
Most of my memories of currants have everything to do with red currant jelly, and we didn't have enough of the berries to quite do that sort of plan much justice. So, we began the search for new and exciting recipes for our little red tarts.
Fortunately for us, a friend of mine came to the rescue with a recipe for Creme de Cassis/Kir.

Now, what is Kir? Well, here's what I know.
Canon Kir was the Rabelaisian mayor of Dijon from 1945 to 1968. Apparently, he loved to drink his (often acidic) local white wine mixed with a blackcurrant liqueur to sweeten it. The concept caught on around Dijon -- and people still drink the mixture today.

Those of you familiar with Kir know that, technically, it's a recipe for black currants, but we decided to try it out with the red ones and see how we fared. The concept is uber simple -- just wash your currants and place them in a jar with cloves, a piece of cinnamon stick, and some vodka. After about two months, we'll mix the brew with sugar and it will be ready to use. Seems like the hard part will be waiting while the mixture steeps for two months!
We'll be sure to tell you how it turns out.

Red Currant Kir



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Things We Love: Cuban Sidecars

Since it's Friday, let's get in the mood with a nice summery drink, eh?

I am quite the fan of the traditional margarita. Nothing says summer to me more than a bit of lime & tequila alongside something salty and spicy. When it comes to the making of margaritas, we're especially fond of Rick Bayless' recipe. Too many of them will put you under the table, for sure. But, if you're careful in your consumption, they're really quite tasty.

But not every dish plays well with tequila (and sometimes we're just in the mood for something a little bit different). And that's when the Cuban sidecar comes into play.
Part margarita, part mojito, these rum-based cocktails are the perfect accompaniment to Mexican, Cuban, or Caribbean food. And they're quite nice as stand-alones (maybe with a few nibblies) to be swilled outside on a hot summer afternoon.

Cuban Sidecars - Burp! Style

As an added bonus, thanks to Kelly over at EatMakeRead, I found recipes for Basil Cocktails over at The Kitchn. We are definitely going to have to try these with some of the fresh basil from our jungle of a garden!



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Rosemary Simple Syrup

So, I happened upon this recipe for rosemary simple syrup on Apartment Therapy/The Kitchn. Can you say "OH, yum!"?

Some of you know that I have a serious love affair going on with rosemary (I bought upwards of six plant for my garden this summer). But, I'm having a bit of a time thinking about putting it in a drink.

Help me out here, guys. Rosemary syrup... a simple vodka martini with rosemary? What would you do with it?


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Stout Floats - Take TWO

Admittedly, our first try at stout floats was a bit disappointing. But, we're not the sort of people who give up easily. So, we decided to try them out again -- this time with a bit of improvisation. Basing this version on what we know about Irish "car bombs" -- as well as the taste memory of something we sampled recently in a local restaurant -- we came up with the following recipe.

Peef and Lo's Car Bombs

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Stout Floats

So, we were feeling ambitious after dinner on Friday night. We'd just stuffed our bellies full of delicious grilled Copper River King salmon, creamed spinach, and buttermilk mashed potatoes. But there was still room for a bit of something sweet. Why not make a beer float?

We had a bit of vanilla porter on hand, so we subbed that in for the stout in the recipe. Which seemed like a fairly good idea (vanilla - blackberry - icecream... yum). However, our initial reactions to the bitter-sweet-cool treat was a bit of a mixed bag. No, they didn't blow us out of the water. But they didn't gross us out either. The sweetness of the blackberry brandy and icecream was a very nice contrast for the bitterness of the beer. In fact, the combination seemed to have REAL possibilities.

So, we plan to try them again. This time, with a coffee or chocolate stout.

If you're looking for something truly unique, you've got to try one of these.

Stout Floats
Gourmet, June 2007



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