Urban Spice Emporium - Blogmania Sponsor

When I got married at 18, I knew how to cook three things: macaroni & cheese, hot dogs & chicken noodle soup from a can. It wasn't long before I found out that wasn't going to work really well and that I needed to expand my cooking abilities. I began to slowly learn how to cook more dishes but I still struggled with cooking meat. It just came out flavorless and nothing like I remembered my mom's cooking tasting like.

Thankfully for my birthday that year, I was presented with a cookbook and after doing some reading, I learned that the key to making your meat tasty & delicious is to season it! Once I mastered that skill, I started turning out meals that were enjoyable and my love for cooking was born.

The Urban Spice Emporium understands that tasty meals need spices and their mission is to offer all-natural and/or organic herb & spice blends, herb bags, dry mixes, extracts, infused oils & vinegars. They purchase their spices from suppliers who take pride in making sure their products are processed with guaranteed reliability and consistent quality. Because of this, the blends they offer you are of the highest quality and taste.

I received a Spice It Up! Pepper Mix spice blend from Urban Spice Emporium to try out.  It arrived in the cutest little square glass bottle with a cork top. I love sustainable packaging.  This can easily be re-used for other spices when I'm done with it. These jars are recyclable and can be replenished with their herb and spice refill packages too. Jars are also tamper sealed for safe shipping.

The Spice It Up! Pepper Mix spice blend contains red pepper, garlic, oregano, sea salt, nutmeg, marjoram, white pepper, black pepper, tarragon and thyme.  Its recommended uses include rubbing on beef, pork, poultry, and seafood prior to grilling, baking, sauteing or blackening.  It's all natural and contains no preservatives or artificial coloring.

I love the convenience of using spice blends.  I don't have to have ten different spices in my spice rack.  All I need to do is have a blend of ten ingredients that does the same thing! It also takes the guess work out of trying to figure out what spice goes with what dish and what spices will taste good together and which won't.

We used the Spice It Up! Pepper Mix spice blend on pork chops and it was absolutely delicious.  It has real flakes and pieces of spices and herbs not just ground up powder.  It did a wonderful job of making dinner delicious and I love how versatile it is!

The Urban Spice Emporium is one of my Blogmania sponsors.  Make sure you stop by Saturday for a chance to win a $35 gift certificate to shop at Urban Spice Emporium!

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this product.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.