About a year or so ago, we noticed that our dishwasher wasn't getting dishes as clean, and the glassware was becoming cloudy. After some research, we discovered that the powdered detergent that we had been using had been reformulated to remove most, if not all, of the phosphates - a substance that both softened the water and helped remove the food traces. At this point, we switched to liquid detergent, but I never really liked the liquid. It's messy, expensive, and wasteful, when you consider how much remains in the bottle even after it's 'empty'. So...after a little bit of internet and home research, we found a formula for homemade dishwasher powder that works just fine and is still environmentally friendly/phosphate free.
Here goes:
Mix well together:
1 c. powdered borax
1 c. washing soda
1/2 c. fine Kosher salt
1/2 c. citric acid (aka sour salt)
Store in a tightly lidded jar or plastic container, labeled for safety's sake.
Use 2 T per load.
Notes: The borax and washing soda can be found in the laundry aisle of your supermarket (check the bottom shelf - they're not high margin, glitzy items, so they're hidden down here). Kosher salt is with the salts, natch - usually you can find coarse as well as fine - get the fine. The citric acid is a little trickier to find, but many bulk food stores carry it, as do spice shops. It sometimes is with the Kosher foods as well and is used as a preservative as well as to add sourness to certain foods. Expect to pay about $5/lb if you buy it in bulk.)
In case you're wondering, the borax acts as a water softener and helps to reduce the cloudiness/spots as well as helping with food particle release from the dishes.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Top o' the morning to you!
Hubby and I have declared today to be a pajama day...lol...yesterday was a little (well, a LOT) busy and the upcoming week looks equally crazy, so we're going to do what we're supposed to do today, which is REST.
We got up early yesterday and headed to Columbus to watch our favorite hockey team, the BlueJackets, do their practice skate. That was followed by a q&a session with the head coach and a player on the DL. We followed that by a trip to Columbus' North Market, a quaint repurposed area of town home to an unbelievable number of vendors - food and otherwise. We lunched on keilbasa sandwiches and potato pierogies...and then we headed home to feed the pups before heading out to church. We came home and completed final preparations to host our neighborhood euchre club at 7. The gang left by 11, but then we stayed up until after 2 am to watch the rerun of the BlueJackets vs. the Coyotes game that we missed... Jackets won it in a shoot out! Great game, but late night...
I'm 1/16 Irish and I never miss the chance to celebrate it, so I've got my traditional mustard glazed corned beef brisket chilling in the fridge - it's a 2+ day process, starting with an overnight soak, leading into a day-long crockpot bath and culminating in a quick oven reheat, with glaze, before serving. We're having it with colcannon (typically potatoes, onions and cabbage, mashed with lots of butter), asparagus and perhaps some soda bread. Mmmm...one of my favorite meals of the year! Leftover peach pie (from pi day) for dessert.
I'm dying to give you an update on the petsitting business, but I'll save that for another blog!
Have a great day and Erin Go Braugh!!
Hubby and I have declared today to be a pajama day...lol...yesterday was a little (well, a LOT) busy and the upcoming week looks equally crazy, so we're going to do what we're supposed to do today, which is REST.
We got up early yesterday and headed to Columbus to watch our favorite hockey team, the BlueJackets, do their practice skate. That was followed by a q&a session with the head coach and a player on the DL. We followed that by a trip to Columbus' North Market, a quaint repurposed area of town home to an unbelievable number of vendors - food and otherwise. We lunched on keilbasa sandwiches and potato pierogies...and then we headed home to feed the pups before heading out to church. We came home and completed final preparations to host our neighborhood euchre club at 7. The gang left by 11, but then we stayed up until after 2 am to watch the rerun of the BlueJackets vs. the Coyotes game that we missed... Jackets won it in a shoot out! Great game, but late night...
I'm 1/16 Irish and I never miss the chance to celebrate it, so I've got my traditional mustard glazed corned beef brisket chilling in the fridge - it's a 2+ day process, starting with an overnight soak, leading into a day-long crockpot bath and culminating in a quick oven reheat, with glaze, before serving. We're having it with colcannon (typically potatoes, onions and cabbage, mashed with lots of butter), asparagus and perhaps some soda bread. Mmmm...one of my favorite meals of the year! Leftover peach pie (from pi day) for dessert.
I'm dying to give you an update on the petsitting business, but I'll save that for another blog!
Have a great day and Erin Go Braugh!!
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