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I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Cascade. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.
Over the weekend husband made some beautiful salmon on the grill. We were trying to get a group together, but a lot of people weren’t available so we ended up with leftovers. (So sad.)
So on Monday we ended up having an impromptu dinner party with a couple of friends. Husband made salmon and pasta with a creamy sauce with roasted red peppers and fresh herbs from the garden. He garnished the plates with basil and everything.
It was beautiful. And delicious. Gail Simmons — of Food & Wine magazine, “Top Chef” and a partner with Cascade in teaching us all about sparkle — would have been proud. 
And I have no pictures of it at all.
The girl had some kind of emergency that pulled me away from the table for the first 10 minutes or so of the meal, and by the time I got back I was too hungry to think about taking a picture before I dug in.
I did, however, get a picture of the aftermath.
That’s because I happened to be trying out a newish product from Cascade, called Cascade Platinum. These little power pacs are full of cleaning power, and they claim to be able to clean dishes even after they’ve been sitting around for 24 hours, with no pre-rinsing, and no post-rinsing, either, since they leave everything nice and shiny.
These are those dishes the morning after, because who has the energy to clean up right after a dinner party?
I popped a pac into the dishwasher (make sure both the dishwasher and your hands are dry first) and let it rip.
Here’s what the dishes looked like after.
Yep, perfectly clean and shiny.
I’ve been using these for most of my loads lately and I have to say I’m sold. They get every last little grit off the pan and even get the spoons that aren’t directly facing the water spray nice and clean. (In the interest of full disclosure we used Cascade powder before. This is better.)
I know it might seem strange to get excited about dishwasher detergent, but I am actually pretty excited. We run the dishwasher at least once a day, and the time it takes to rinse dishes (or at least give a thorough scraping) before loading the dishes, and rinsing residue off after the cycle runs really does add up. That’s time we all could better spend hanging out with our families, doing crafty stuff, or just doing nothing.
That’s certainly worth getting excited about.
Something else exciting: you can show Cascade your sparkle on Instagram for a chance to win a KitchenAid kitchen makeover and a year’s supply of Cascade Platinum. Check out the details.
What saves you time around the house? I’d love to hear your tricks!
