[Creative Commons photo by Keith Lewis]

Saag Paneer is traditionally made with a mild, home made cheese. Tofu is the perfect stand in! This dish is total comfort food. The dish pictured above has red peppers in it, though my recipe doesn’t. If you want to include them, just chop half a red pepper and fry it with the onions, garlic, and ginger!

• 2 pounds fresh baby spinach, washed and destemmed
• 1/4c +1 T margarine
• 1 block extra firm tofu, cubed
• 2 yellow onions, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1t ginger, minced
• 1t curry powder
• 1t garam masala
• 1/2c almond milk + 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4c plain soy or coconut yogurt

Sautee the spinach in 1T of the margarine for a minute or two, until it wilts. Set it aside in a colander to drain.

Heat the rest of the margarine in a saucepan on medium-high. Add your tofu, and fry until it’s light brown on all sides. Once it looks all brown and awesome, set it aside.

In the same pan, sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger until they’re soft. Sprinkle the mixture with the curry powder and and garam masala. Stir these together for just another minute or so, then fold in the spinach.

Turn off the stove and stir the almond milk/lemon juice mixture and the yogurt. Once things thicken up some, fold in the tofu.

This is great over rice or with delicious flatbread!

I tend to overextend myself. Really, there is only one thing keeping me where I’m supposed to be, on time, and prepared. That thing is my trusty dayplanner.

[My well-loved 2008 Slingshot.]

For the past few years, I’ve been buying Slingshot organizers each December. I like the layout of the pages, and all of the cool doodlings and tips keep me entertained on the train if I forget my book. This year, though, I think it’s time for a change. I forgot to pick up a new Slingshot (maybe I should have written that on the calendar somewhere?) and then today ran across this awesome tutorial on making your very own planner out of trash on greenUpgrader!

Guess who is going to be digging through her recycle bin tonight? They give the option of printing out pages or drawing your own. I might go for a combination….we’ll see how it goes!

[via Re-Nest]

The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) goes into effect this February. The act, intended to address safety concerns in childrens’ toys, is going to put independent artists and crafters and small companies who make handmade toys out of business. The law was a reaction to scares involving Chinese toys last year. It requires childrens’ toys to undergo expensive third-party testing for contaminants like lead.

These are independent business run by people who lovingly handcraft their toys. They’re artists who take extra care to create safe, quality products. Please help protect these small businesses! Cool Mom Picks has all sorts of updates on the CPSIA along with ways we can all take action!

Get Heard @ Change.org

The Handmade Toy Alliance submitted a request to amend the CPSIA on Change.org where folks can vote on ideas they’d like to see the Obama administration tackle. The idea finished first place in the Economy category, which means it qualifies for the final round. Final round voting will run from today through January 15th. You can vote right over here! It’s as easy as signing up, logging in, and just one little click from there!

[Image Credit: Adorable handmade bear by Bumblebird, design by Laurie Smithwick of LEAP Design.]

I’m working on putting together a site featuring awesome indie crafters, supplies, tutorials, and so on. Anything crafty that deserves a moment in the spotlight. What better place to start than with you guys?

If you have something you’d like to see featured, send me an email through my contact page! I’m super-excited to get started!

[Creative Commons photo by Vicky Sorsby]

SuperCute! did a guest post over at Indie Fixx about New Year’s resolutions. Here is my part! You can read the whole thing, which includes Liz and Lori’s resolutions over at Indie Fixx!
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Happy New Year, lovely people!

The kitchen is mostly tidied from our party, this cup of coffee with almond milk is doing wonders for my little hangover, and we’re watching Cinematic Titanic. We rocked some band after midnight and had an all around wonderful New Year’s eve!

I never did get around to writing about my visit to Fort Lauderdale and mom’s Christmas party! The food at that party was a test run for our NYE spread. I sort of dug watching folks eat the food and be amazed that it was vegan. Success!

This was the buffet at mom’s Christmas party! I did all the cooking, so it was a totally vegan menu. Most of these are old faves, but one is an idea I completely stole from my friend Ally: tiny twice-baked potatoes! You can see them on the left there - they got eaten pretty quickly, so more than half the tray is gone! Here’s the recipe:
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Mari Kasurinen just keeps making these awesome My Little Pony mods, and every one is totally rad! Behold: My Little Chewbacca!

At this point, my beercap collection is pretty out of control, so you can imagine my joy when Jenny Ryan over at Craftzine posted about this awesome trivet made of bottlecaps and yarn scraps.

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So, remember the My Little Pony modded out into a badass Storm Trooper? Well, the same artist has a new My Little Pony mod that completely rocks my socks. My Little He-Man!

I had congee, a savory Chinese rice porridge, when I was visiting Marilyn in New York in early 2007. It was addictive, and I don’t know of any places in Atlanta that serve it. The only solution, obviously, was to make my own. This picture was taken while it was still simmering on the stove. The finished product will be a little bit thicker.
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