Thursday 24 September 2015

VeganMoFo 2015 #24: Nathan Fillion.



24. What (insert well known person) would eat if they were vegan.

Let me tell you about my future husband. His name is Nathan Fillion. For Browncoats, Nathan will always be the captain of our hearts, and the tightpants of our dreams. A lot of people would now know him from his current show Castle, but he is always Captain Malcolm Reynolds to me.

Okay, okay. So he has a gorgeous girlfriend and he lives in a different country and my cunning plan of winning him over by being in a different country and not being an ex-Baywatch actress and basically having no contact with him whatsoever is taking its damn time. However, I did meet him this one time at a convention in Sydney, so I guess that memory will have to sustain me.

Me and Nathan


Anyway, in alternate universe land where crazy things happen, maybe I would be making dinner for Nathan. Now, Nathan is definitely not vegan, though his co-star Molly Quinn is, so I am sure she has laid some good groundwork with him about how delicious vegan food is, and I'm sure once we met it would be a quick trip to vegan town for him.

One of the foods Nathan is famous for on the internet is his Seven Layer Bean Dip of the Gods (note, if you haven't seen Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, do so immediately... and then listen along to Commentary! The Musical... yes, they did a musical commentary).

His recipe is actually vegetarian to start off with, and would be easy to make vegan. I decided to mix it up a little, by making the Seven-Layer Bean Dip from Blissful Bites by Christy Morgan. This recipe makes a huge amount, so I just made a half batch. Layers according to the recipe are a mix of pinto beans and chorizo, a layer of sour cream and salsa, a layer of guac, a layer of shredded Daiya, a layer of shredded cos lettuce, a layer of halved grape tomatoes and a layer of black olives. I changed it up a little. For the bottom layer I used a mix of pinto beans and the TVP chorizo recipe from Hearty Vegan Meals. I then had a layer of the Nacho Chee-Zee sauce from Bake and Destroy, because this was still warm and I didn't want it to make the lettuce go soggy. Then I had a layer of tofu sour cream from But I Could Never Go Vegan and salsa, then guac, lettuce, tomatoes and olives. We had this for dinner, rather than as the snack it was designed to be, which was kind of ridiculous but it was very tasty! Just needed about three times the amount of guac because that layer got a bit lost.
Rating: :)

Seven-Layer Dip


Nathan also mentioned in an interview with Oprah that his favourite meal is his mother's lasagna.

The Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Lasagna from The Abundance Diet is not your traditional lasagna, but it is so tasty I bet Nathan would love it if he was vegan! I modified this a little by roasting the vegetables rather than grilling because I just didn't have time or inclination to grill them all on my tiny George Foreman. This lasagna is amazing - layers of marinara sauce (with lentils and quinoa mixed in), zucchini, eggplant, red onions and fresh roma tomatoes. All layered and topped with Somer's famous Moxarella, the easiest vegan cheese you'll ever make. This fills an entire 9x13 inch baking dish, and the serving sizes are HUGE (it serves 4). Despite the giant servings, it leaves you feeling light and full of great veggie goodness.
Rating: :D

Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Lasagna


Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Lasagna


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post: Month of Gizmo

Gizmo on her 15th birthday


Another photo of Gizmo on her 15th birthday. This is one of my favourite photos of her, I think it is gorgeous.

7 comments:

  1. I had never heard of Nathan Fillion, and apparently he's Canadian!

    But no matter who he is, I'm sure he'd love that layer dip. This is a dish that has always fascinated me, I should really try it one day.

    Your lasagna uses a marinara with lentils and quinoa! I made a bolognese sauce from the Great Vegan Bean Book earlier this month, and it included those ingredients too. I thought it was odd, but it turned out to be delicious.

    But four servings for that lasagna?!

    That picture of Gizmo is really beautiful.

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  2. I've never heard of layered dip! What an amazing creation. Definitely two great dishes I'm sure he'd love!

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  3. I think Nathan would love everything you made! It looks amazing. I hope fate hurries up and you two meet again! I'm sure the second time will be the charm and it will be love! The pictue of Gizmo is gorgeous!

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  4. That's so awesome that you've met Nathan Fillion; both dishes sound like perfect choices for him! :D Beautiful photo of Gizmo!

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  5. Nathan Fillion is awesome and now I want to eat lasagna while watching Firefly!

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  6. Oooh I have seen Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, I'm pretty sure we own a dvd of it. I'm not sure I've watched the commentary though - I'll add it to the weekend to-do list =) I don't actually recognize him from anyone else as I don't watch Castle, but have heard Firefly is quite good and should try it out.
    I like your post! It's very cute =) The layer dip and lasagna sound delicious! I bet he would love them and go vegan just for you!
    It is a very gorgeous picture of Gizmo =)

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  7. I've never seen Firefly, but I do watch Castle sometimes, so I'm aware of your fella. Somer's lasagna is one of my favorite recipes EVER. It's so good. I think I might make it again this week. I"m on a last ditch eggplant binge before eggplants go out of season.

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