Not a cooking post- How to Clean Silver (Easily)

I had seen things on Pinterest a few times, about polishing silver by soaking it in hot salt-water with aluminum foil, and mentioned to my husband that I wanted to try it, because all of my silver pieces were looking REALLY bad.

Observe:

The pitcher before--notice the "bubbly" marks that I have never been able to remove when I polished this.

A candlestick before

So, my husband didn't think that salt would work very well, and he found this article, so I decided to try that.

First, I filled my plastic basin with water, and dumped the water into my stock-pot to boil.  (That way I didn't heat more water than would fit.)  It was about 6 quarts, so I measured out 1 1/2 cups of baking soda (1 cup per gallon of water).

In the mean time, I put a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom of the plastic basin, and set the two candlesticks on the foil.

When the water came to a boil, I set the stock-pot in the sink and added the baking soda.  It did foam up (a lot), so I added it gradually, and then stirred it with a long spoon to make sure it was dissolved.

Then I poured the baking soda solution into the basin.  (It smelled just like being at Yellowstone--silver tarnish is silver sulfide.  Who knew?)  The tarnish just came off the candlesticks immediately--before all of the water was in the basin, they were already looking shiny.  I let them sit in the solution for a few minutes, then washed them with hot soapy water to get the baking soda and candle-wax residue off.  (There wasn't much wax left inside the candlesticks before I started this, but there was some.)

After they were washed and dried, we polished them up with a silver polishing cloth, and they were beautiful!

Polishing cloth

The candlesticks after

I used the same aluminum foil and baking soda solution for the two candlesticks, the handle of a "hostess plate," a dish that I think is for setting a bottle of wine on, and a pitcher.

The pitcher during--the basin was too small, so you can see  how much  tarnish came off just sitting in the solution for a minute or so.

 The pitcher was too big to be immersed in my small basin, so it had to be turned over during its treatment.

When it came out, it still had some of the bubbly-looking marks on the sides.  My husband said that it was probably a different type of tarnish--not sulfur, and that I should try the polish I had.  And now it worked!

The pitcher after

I am so excited.  My silver looks better than I've ever gotten it before, and with a lot less effort than I've ever put into it!

Enchilada Stuffed Poblanos

This is the inspiration for this recipe.

Sauce:
1(14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 (4 oz) can diced jalepenos, drained
1/2 of an onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 of a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t ground cumin

Puree all ingredients in a blender.  Pour into a glass dish or bowl.  Microwave about 4 minutes (or more--my microwave is strong).

Wash 5 poblano peppers.  Cut out a wedge at the top, and continue it as a slit down to the bottom.  Cut out the stem, and remove the seeds.
Put the peppers on top of the tomato sauce, and microwave them in 2-minute increments until they are soft enough to open up without cracking.  (Pour out any liquid that accumulates inside the peppers.)

Filling:
about 1/2 T lard or olive oil
1/2 of an onion, diced
the wedges cut out of the poblanos, diced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a (12 oz) tube of chorrizo
about 8 oz of fresh mushrooms, diced

Warm the fat in a frying pan.  Saute the onion, peppers and garlic for a few minutes.
Add the chorrizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked through.
Add the mushrooms, and cook a few more minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to about 350 F.
Stuff the filling into the peppers.
Spread most of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13" pan.
Put the stuffed peppers on top of the sauce.
Spread the rest of the sauce over the filling and peppers.
Cover the peppers and filling with cheese.  (I used about 4 oz each Colby/Jack, medium cheddar, and Pepper Jack.)

Ready to go in the oven.

 Bake for a few minutes (5-10), then switch to the broiler to brown the cheese.

Already half eaten.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Herbs and Pecorino

Here's the inspiration for this "recipe."

1 spaghetti squash, cleaned, roasted, and removed from the shell in strands

about 3 T butter

1 onion, chopped pretty fine

4 cloves of garlic, minced

about 1 t fresh rosemary, minced

about 1 t fresh thyme, minced

about 2 T fresh sage, minced

salt and pepper

a few T fresh parsley

freshly grated Pecorino cheese, about 1/4 c

Melt the butter in a large pan/wok.

Cook the onion and garlic for several minutes, stirring at least occasionally.

Add the rosemary, thyme, and sage.  Cook for a little longer.

Add the squash.  Cook until it's warm through.

Stir in salt, pepper, parsley, and cheese.

Even more herbs and cheese would not be out of place.  And capers might be nice.

I chopped the onion pretty small, but I think it would have stirred in and distributed better if it were finer.