TIKKA MASALA

I promised the beautiful, Mag, a recent convert to vegan life, that I'd post this today, so here it is.  A fabulous masala - as much "treat" as "tikka", it has the wonderful texture and layered flavours that makes you feel like you're getting away with something:  it is that good.  And this is a recipe that goes a long way (you could freeze some for another meal).  Serve it over roasted tofu, seitan or steamed or roasted veggies (chick peas, potatoes, cauliflower, parsnips, carrots, snow peas and eggplant are especially good!). With a side of fresh greens and maybe a bowl of jasmine rice or rustic bread for dipping, this is a true meal and another of those recipes that is hard to resist when seconds are offered.  Warm and comforting, it is also very pretty on a cold winter's night.

1/4 c olive oil

1 large white onion, chopped

1/2-one green pepper, chopped 

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (remember to wash your hands after handling!)

1 heaping tbsp of fennel seeds

3-4 minced cloves of garlic

1 inch of minced ginger (about a heaping tbsp)

1 tsp sea salt

1 heaping tbsp coriander

1 heaping tbsp med curry powder

2 cups cashew milk

1 cup of almond or coconut milk

1, 28oz can crushed tomatoes 

2 tbsp gf all-purpose flour (or rice or spelt flour) - mixed w/ 1/2 hot water, to thicken

2 tbsp lemon or lime juice

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed large skillet and saute onion until just translucent.  Add the peppers, seeds, garlic, ginger, salt, coriander and curry powder and mix well. Let simmer for five minutes or so on medium and then raise the heat to high.  When beginning to boil whisk in the flour/water mixture and reduce the heat.  Cook another five minutes or so to mix in the flour and thicken, avoiding any lumps.  Stir in the lemon juice and simmer for about 20 minutes or so.  Spoon over your veggies and/or tofu and/or grilled seitan.  Be generous! - You'll want sauce at the end to scoop up with bread! 

Namaste ~

"Tikka Masala" by Suzanne O'Callaghan

(antique, hand-painted German vase/pot, Charlottetown Farmer's Market)

WHY GO VEGAN?

Why Go Vegan?

Why go vegan? Well! I am glad I asked! - because I did, often, especially in the years when I was a vegetarian. I kind of figured that I had won the battle, whatever that was, and that the vegan "thing" was just a teensy bit too hard, complicated, and impractical for a busy mom person etc. I was wrong. The fact is that food can - and does - completely change the way we look, feel and think about ourselves, those we care for and the world. A vegan diet will, not surprisingly, cause you to lose the extra weight you may be lugging around, but it will do an awful lot more than that - and that, my friends, includes science that unequivocally proves a vegan diet can reverse (yes!, I said reverse) health problems from depression to Type II Diabetes, to heart disease to various digestive issues. If you simply want to lose weight, a vegan diet let's you do that without the horrible deprivation that is not eating and which accompanies every other sort of "diet". But there's so very, very much more to this. As your newly vibrant complexion will attest, pretty soon after embarking on a plant-based diet your moods will be sunnier (and more even). Pre-menstrual, peri-menopausal and menopausal symptoms lesson and even stop all together. Headaches no longer flare up and joint pains no longer meet your morning smile - you will leap out of bed to meet the day if you want to! You're going to feel mentally clearer, too (someone accused me of being "good at math" yesterday! That is a miracle ;-). You'll have more energy. Your sleep will improve. Everything in terms of your body's functions will simply work better. And yet despite all that wonderful and important stuff, here's the bit that I like the best: going vegan isn't just proving that Aristotle was correct when he asserted that the cure for every ailment lay in food (he was), but going vegan has proven to be a way of living that has put me in touch with my one and only life in ways that I never thought possible. I feel and am closer to this beautiful planet and the creatures with whom we share it. I am not diminishing or touting a cure-all for the gazillion problems of the world in which we live - but we change everything by small, simple, kind acts. I have known days of hiding in a hot bath with a tub of Hagendaz and a big glass of red wine, too. But that never had long-lasting effects for me. It didn't make me feel more loving, powerful or in control of my life; it didn't make me more sensitive to the things that matter most to me - my beautiful sons, my art, family and friends, love, nature, me! My body felt separate from me and I felt separate from everything and everyone - just a little sometimes, but separate. There was a level of compassion and wisdom inside me that I just didn't know was available and waiting... A vegan diet grows the love inside you to fill the space heaviness and distance from yourself once occupied. It's also fun, interesting, connects you to local foods and growers, and your neighbours! Vegan food is not complicated, difficult or expensive. It's actually easier and less expensive than eating meat (and fish). The gals at The Veganomicon in NYC refer to vegan eating as a "culinary whippersnapper" because it "draws influences from every part of the world to create an entirely new way to eat". I promise, you're not being led by yummy sourdough breadcrumbs to the proverbial gingerbread house only to find yourself caged in some crazy complicated culinary madness! The thing about going vegan is that whether you don't particularly like cooking or you really do, you're going to be just fine (and full and happy and yes, there's even vegan ice-cream for the bath-after-the-break-up event and I'll share how to make that, too, before the holidays). So go ahead. Find out what the biggest trend in the Western world is all about, and what people of many other ancient cultures already know. Whether you go "cold turkey" or you begin by replacing a few meals with vegan offerings, you'll feel and look better - in every way. And that's a promise!

 Suzanne 

'

SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN

"WAITING"

acrylic on gallery canvas

76.2 x 101.6 (30"x40")

ROMAN HOLIDAY SOUP (A vegan take on the traditional pasta and bean soup!)

ROMAN HOLIDAY SOUP

Comforting and delicious, this is what I worked on this weekend while making a painting of a rural farmhouse (image follows) on PE Island.  This soup is based on the traditional pasta and bean soups you find in stone cottage kitchens north of Rome. I served it with a rustic olive bread fresh from the Charlottetown Farmer's Market (with generous dollops of Earth Balance - vegan butter - and hummus).  It was beyond spectacular.  The red lentils are my new soup friend:  they thicken the soup right up and add even more great protein (so you can indulge in those bread carbs almost guilt-free because the proteins burn them right up!).  We're in the midst of a first snowfall today and the left-overs from this new gem are on the menu tonight!

2 med white cooking onions, chopped

6 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1 (heaping) tsp dried oregano

1 (heaping) tsp dried basil

1-2 tsp dried red chilis

28 oz tin crushed tomatoes

small/6oz tin tomato paste

7 cups of water

 3 small/5 large bay leaves

14 oz tin red kidney beans

19 oz tin white kidney beans

1.5-2 tsp sea salt/to taste

3/4 tsp black pepper

3/4 cup split red lentils, washed

1 cup favourite pasta 

Italian flat leaf parsley and/or fresh basil for garnish

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot until the onions become transparent - about five minutes.  Stir in the oregano, basil and chilis.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, the water and bay leaves and cook on medium high for five minutes.  Add the beans and stir to mix up well..
(Feel free to substitute and/or add navy beans, chick peas, black eyed peas, fava beans! - they are all delicious and good for you.  Use your favourite combination.  The idea is to go heavier on the protein-rich beans than the pasta and still have the wonderful 'comfort' of the combination of beans and pasta.  If you're using dried beans be sure to soak them over night and add another half hour to the cooking before adding the pasta.)  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, cover and cook about 15 minutes, allowing the flavours to blend.  Stir in the red lentils and salt and pepper.  Simmer gently, covered, until the lentils are mushy and kind of disappear into the pink/red goodness of the sauce-y base, about 25 minutes.  About ten minutes before serving add the pasta so that it remains al dente!

Buon appetito!

ROMAN HOLIDAY by SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN

(Pottery courtesy/with thanks to "The People's Potter", Carl Phillis)

SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN

"THE HUMBLE OF WINTER"

acrylic on gallery canvas

30.48 cm x 40.64 (12"x16")

2015

COMPLEX CREAMY CARROT SOUP - THE BEST!!!! (Super Easy!)

This is a super elegant (and very beautiful looking) carrot soup that's creamy and complex, boasting layers of flavourful goodness and unlike most 'cream' soups it has a so important protein. It's also really easy to make! This is one of my own inventions and currently my favourite soup, too! Guaranteed to impress even the most discerning of guests, it's hearty enough to be a main, sprinkled with roasted organic pumpkin seeds and accompanied by a rustic bread spread with Earth Balance or tahini/a nut butter and a fresh green salad. And, while it is certainly rich enough to be a perfect menu item for friends in the US celebrating Thanksgiving this coming weekend or any special occasion, I made it last Friday night just "because". It is comfort food to the max. (Photos to come!)

The ingredients/shopping list

1 large white onion,chopped 

2 tbsp light olive or sesame oil 

1 inch of chopped ginger 

3 cloves of garlic, chopped to a mince 

7 large carrots, chopped 

7 cups of water 

1 tsp cumin 

2 tsp sea salt 

1/2 tsp tumeric 

1 tsp garam masala 

1 cup split red lentils 

Saute the onion in the oil until the onion is just turning transparent and soft in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot. Add the garlic and saute half a minute longer. Add the ginger and saute another half a minute and then add the spices. Stir to mix and add the water and carrots. Bring to a boil and then drop the heat to a low simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes or until a little tender. Stir in the the red lentils. Simmer covered 35-40 minutes, until the lentils have become mushy. Cool and use your food processor or blender to puree in batches. Return the soup to your soup pot. Taste and adjust salt if desired (do bear in mind that ginger will rigorously compete with salt and salt is only ever meant to highlight flavours, not dominate them...less is more, especially in this recipe/in 'cream' soups).

Serve with a crusty bread etc/as mentioned above.

Makes easily eight servings (or less as mains with seconds ;-) )

~ Once you've had three portions of this preserve your dignity and refrigerate until the next day, when it will be even better! ~

TIP:
When I saute my onions etc in olive oil, to keep the calories and albeit healthy fats from getting away on me, if I need a little more 'liquid' to get the job done after a tbsp or two of oil I add water.  It works just as well, the flavour is retained and I am not just pouring calories into the mix.  

Winter, North Shore, PEI by Suzanne O'Callaghan

 acrylic on gallery canvas

 40.64 x 50.8 cm

2015

PAINTING A FEAST IS AS FUN AS EATING ONE!

Sometimes, painting a feast can be as fun as eating one!  Here are three images of paintings about just this.  Living on an Island, as I do, infuses everything from what people eat to our dreams at night.  I don't eat the lobsters, but they are interesting to paint with all their curls and sharp bits.  Here's the info on these three paintings - perhaps it will delay tonight's meal if you paint it?, but immortalizing our blessings is a good thing, too!:

(top) "Feast: Distracting a few from the needs of the many"

acrylic on pottery

Created for the Confederation Centre of the Arts exhibit "Feast"

(middle) "Island family supper" (From hotdogs and lobsters to milk and wine)"

acrylic on canvas

Private collector, Summerside, PE

(bottom) "Island dinner for two"

acrylic on canvas

Private collector, Stratford, PE

A CAESAR WITHOUT THE BRUTUS

A Caesar salad has never been something for which I have burned with desire (something about the raw eggs I expect).  But at Thanksgiving, a meal I shared with some really wonderful artist friends this year, I needed a green dish that could pass muster with some pretty devoted meat eaters.  With a degree of uncertainty I made this, from Alicia Silverstone's fab book "The Kind Diet" - a vegan cookbook with a wonderful tenderness and honesty that is as fun to read and it is to experiment with.  Not only was this salad a rockin' success with the carnivores, I fell in love with (and have craved it since) this salad, too - I am a convert.
Try it!  You will love it!


Dressing
2 tbsps blanched or roasted almonds (I used blanched - they are prettier in the creamy dressing)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsps Dijon mustard
2 tbsps shoyu (I used Bragg)
1 tbsp tahini
3 tbsps fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lrg head of romaine, torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 sheet nori, cut with scissors into 2:x4" strips (this is kind of optional, in as much if your dining friends are afraid of seaweed I'd skip it - the salad will still be wonderful)

Combine the almonds, garlic, mustard, shoyu/Bragg, tahini, lemon juice, oil and 1/4 cup of water in a food processor or blender.  Process until smooth and well-blended (this will be creamy and wonderful.  Don't worry!)

To serve, toss the lettuce and croutons (also optional and recipe follows - yummy but skip if you're worried about carbs) together in a large serving bowl.  Add the dressing and toss to coat.  Sprinkle the nori over the salad and serve right away.

TIP
All the components - croutons, dressing, greens - may be prepared and stored separately in the fridge for up to a week so you can toss together a fresh Caesar for one or two (as mains) or four (as sides) whenever you feel like it!


Croutons
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp garlic powder (definitely NOT garlic salt)
1/2 tsp sea salt
3-4 slices your fave rustic bread, cut into cubes (about a cup and a half)
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 325"f.  Stir together the rosemary, garlic powder and salt in a small bowl.  Add the bread cubes to a large bowl and drizzle them with the oil.  Toss well to distribute the oil evenly.  Sprinkle the her mixture over the bread and toss again.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the croutons are dry and lightly toasted.  Cool completely. 

"The People's Potter" and sculptor, Carl Phillis, throwing
my new salad bowl! 

HOMEY HUMMUS, BLACK BEAUTY BEAN BURGERS & A CURRIED BROCCOLI SOUP - BRING ON NOVEMBER!

Hello everyone....
Here are a couple/three easy, super delicious recipes to get your vegan on as the clocks fall back and the temps fall down.  The three are versatile and comfort food, and freeze well, too (I always freeze the burgers in particular and then just pop them out of the freeze an hour or so before supper.  A little square of waxed paper between them ensures they don't stick to one another after the big chill).


HOMEY HUMMUS

1 c precooked chick peas, set aside to cool or a large tin, rinsed and drained
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c lemon juice
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp fresh garlic all minced up
1 tsp sea salt (taste and add a dash more at the end if you feel it needs it. Keep in mind tinned chick peas have a higher sodium cotent)
1/3 c minced black or black and green olives, chopped, or some scallions, chives, cilantro etc - all optional

1. Blend all but the chopped olives together in a food processor until nice and creamy smooth
2.  Mixed in the optional olives, greens etc
3.  Cover and refrigerate until served

TIP:  To get your hummus to the consistency you like you may have to add a tbsp or two of water while blending.  This recipe works when doubled, too!  Of course it's fab on crackers, pita, carrot sticks etc, but the bean burgers that are next up are yummy with this as well.  I often spread this hummus on nori and add some shallots, greens, avocado, grated carrot etc and then roll the nori up into a delish snack!  Hummus is even wonderful by the spoonful dropped into a steaming hot bowl of soup, like lentil.  Versatile and loaded with protein, this is a staple comfort food that I keep in my fridge all the time.



BLACK BEAUTY BEAN BURGERS

1 pkg (I like Rooster brand) extra firm tofu
1 tin Eden black beans, drained and rinsed
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 tbsp flax mixed with a little water (replaces an egg)
1/2 c packed fresh cilantro
1/2 c quick oats
1/4 catsup (sugar free and organic is widely available now and your best bet)
sea salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Mix all the ingredients but your tofu in a blender, pulse to mix but not too fine, add the tofu by crumbling it into the mixture through your hands and give the mixture another whirl 
2.  Use your (well-scrubbed! ;-) ) hands to form into patties
3  Grill on a barbeque or in your oven (lower cal), or fry up in a saucepan on top.  Serve on a good rustic bread or roll  - we have Breadworks in Charlottetown now and couldn't be happier! - a local baker is soo civilized! - with mini-cukes, avocado slices, cilantro sprigs, red onion rounds, sliced tomatoes, your favourite condiments (including some of that fabulous hummus you just made!), etc

TIP:  These freeze very well uncooked for a super fast weekend or busy week night meal!



CURRIED BROCCOLI & POTATO SOUP


Super fast and super easy, soups are a mainstay of being a happy, healthy (and slim) single girl!  A quick walk around downtown Toronto at lunchtime shows you that soup is the new cool food for urbanites with not a lot of time for thinking about nutrition but the definite need to get all those great vitamins and greens into a the diet!  I make soups at least weekly and all year 'round.  They freeze well and make perfect last minute feasts when friends come by and I know when I tuck into a bowl of steaming (or chilled in summertime) soup I am getting all the nutrients I need without any fuss.  Great for breakfast, too, if you're trying to lose a pound or two mysteriously picked up in the last year, soups are a fast and friendly way to lose that weight without even trying.  This soup - like many of the best I make - is based on cleaning out my refrigerator on Saturday evening.  Don't be afraid to do that to use up extra veg and to discover great substitutions.  Soup, more than perhaps any other cooking, is like making a painting.  Be creative!

2 bouquets of broccoli, washed and chopped and tough outer stem peeled away
1 large white (cooking) onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 medium size potatoes
8 c water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp curry powder

Saute your onion and garlic in the olive oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot.  If you're counting calories add a little water rather than more oil as you cook till the onions and garlic are fragrant and translucent.  Add all your spices.  Cook on medium, stirring till spices are infusing steam from pot. Add the water, stir, and add the broccoli and potatoes.  Raise heat to bring just to a bowl and then turn down and simmer on low for about 45 minutes, until the potatoes and broccoli are soft.  Using a immersion blender (or a potato masher) 'cream' the soup to desired consistency.  Serve piping hot with a rustic, organic bread, perhaps toasted with olive oil and herbs under your broiler.  This soup is good topped with roasted pumpkin seeds or shredded nori, too.

-30-

WELCOME TO MAKING YOUR LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL! - IN EVERY WAY!

Canadian visual artist, author and vegan, Suzanne O'Callaghan, at home in 

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Welcome to my new blog!  For seven years I have been blogging about visual art and using it as a doorway to some of the wondrous things of life and learning or "the art of life".  I'm going to keep doing that at suzanneocallaghanartistsblog but I want to do something more.  

One of the great pleasures of life is also one of it's necessities, namely food - which is not to say that art is not one of life's pleasures also, for it very much is of course!  At easyartveganchic I am going to marry these two great pleasures in a new blog adventure! 

easyartveganchic will be a place you can visit to get yummy, good-looking vegan recipes that anyone can make and still get all the good vitamins, proteins and healthy fats you need from an animal-free, plant based diet.  In this little space I'll offer up the "ingredients" of art and food together and we'll have a bit of fun, from palette to plate. I'll share recipes for food and for making art with ideas from clever, very hip and chic friends and colleagues, too, from Canada and beyond.

I realize that embracing a vegetarian diet seems like it is a really hard thing in the beginning - and a vegan diet probably seems even tougher or even impossible.  When I am teaching painting (and life drawing) I do hear similar expressions of impossibility from students (of every age and background) to those I hear when I suggest that a vegan diet can not only change one's life for the better, it can turn around illnesses of every sort - physical, mental and emotional.  The fact is that you CAN recreate your life.  

If I had a dollar for every time a person says to me that they "cannot draw and/or paint a straight line" I would be wealthy.  The fact is that a straight line would make for a very boring piece of art (with apologies to New York School modernists).  Likewise, eating animals is not only tasteless and not cool, by comparison to a vegan diet it is also very boring as well.  Feeling weighty, slow, lethargic, etc while animal fats and tissues struggle to digest in your body is a boring (and really horrible) way to feel and live.  A vegan diet will change all that and you will, I promise, feel (and look) like a new, younger, more vital and more beautiful person.  Plus, as a personal feel good bonus, you'll be inviting others in the world to the table, for by passing up on bovine friends and other creatures with a hemoglobin you'll be enabling people who are food insecure to eat.  That's right - every time you say "no" to meat the water and grain that is necessary to growing cattle can nourish others in the world.  There's a tonne of other benefits and I'll post articles and interviews at regular intervals that will support, attest and inform of all this good stuff.

We begin with the knowledge that  you and I are doing something that is wonderful, for us and for the planet, when we make the choice to go vegan and embrace the art of living responsibly and well.

Today I invite you to join me in reinventing our lives in favour of beauty.  Inside and out.  YOU make my life more beautiful, that is certain, just by being out there for me to paint for and to.  So in this very moment let's begin by doing what good friends do after sharing art and the many other pleasures of our "one and precious life" - let's break bread together.  

With gratitude,
Suzanne