Green dishes

As the new year wears on, and the weather going from rain to snow to sun and back, I've found myself doing a lot of cooking/baking lately. With this, comes dishes. I hate dishes. I take that back. I hate washing dishes. So, admittedly, I use the dishwasher. I know, for shame.

In my quest to use more natural products around my home, I decided to look for an alternative to my Cascade packets. And, I found one that I love. It gets my dishes just as clean, and helps to keep my dishwasher clean as well.
The recipe is simple, you'll need 4 ingredients.

2 parts washing soda
2 parts borax
1 part citric acid
1 part coarse sea salt

That's it. Mix it all in a jar, and store under your sink. Fill up the detergent cup, and use vinegar in the rinse cup.

I've been asked a lot about where to find these ingredients. I live in a fairly good sized town, so I have a lot of stores readily available to me. I buy my borax, washing soda, and sea salt at my local chain grocery store. Sometimes I can find citric acid there as well (in the spice aisle) but often times, I have to go to my local whole foods store to find it. They sell it in bulk there, so I can buy exactly the amount I need. I use citric acid in a few different things (like bath bombs.)

This week's new recipe was porkchops in a cream sauce with mushrooms. All done in the slow cooker. It was delish!