- I'm gonna win. You're gonna lose.
- Merle doesn't know what she's in for.
- She should be shaking her little
non-leather boots right now.
- [Rachel] What are you saying about me?
- Hey, what's up everybody.
It's your girl Merle.
- And I am Rachel!
(laughing)
Stop, I can't!
- Rachel and I are best friends,
so today we're gonna have a friendly competition.
We're going to be making two lasagna at two price points.
One of us is going to make a lasagna for $14,
and the other one's gonna make a lasagna for $54.
- So to make this fair, we're going to flip a coin
to see who gets which budget.
- And then of course, at the end, we need to have a judge,
so we're going to bring in Aria
and have him pick which one he thinks is better,
but we're not going to tell him who made which one.
- Okay, so let's flip the coin.
- So let's say tales is cheaper, heads is more expensive.
- Okay.
(intense music)
- That's the most mechanical flip I've ever seen.
- I got cheaper! - All right!
That means I get to do the expensive of one.
- Ooh, oh God, I'm nervous now.
- I'm not gonna lie, I think you're screwed.
I believe in you Rachel, because you're a talented cook,
but I'm feeling pretty confident right now.
- I've worked under pretty extreme
budget restrictions before,
so I think I'm up for the challenge.
First, I need to make some ricotta.
I need to use something more inexpensive than cashews.
The only other thing I can really think of is tofu.
I'm going to add one and a half blocks of extra firm tofu
to the food processor.
Then I'm going to add a little bit of lemon juice,
some nutritional yeast
to help give it a cheesy flavor, of course.
A little bit of garlic.
So I would normally want to do a fresh basil for this,
but it's not really within my budget.
I'm just going to go with some dried basil instead.
And then I'm going to use some salt and some pepper,
and then we're just going to blend it up.
(blender whirring)
Ooh!
I'm gonna try a little bit of this.
You don't need cashews!
Now it is time to make our meat sauce.
So I'm going to start by adding olive oil to a big ol' pot,
and then I'm going to start sauteing an onion.
I'm going to add in my garlic,
I'm going to do a little pinch of salt in here.
So for my meat,
I'm using white button mushrooms
because they're cheaper than cremini mushrooms,
which is what I would normally want to use,
and my eggplants.
Eggplants are pretty cheap, too.
So this is going to be our nice meaty texture
we're adding to the lasagna.
I wanna let it cook down for about 20 minutes.
See, Merle's probably gonna use something like beyond meat,
but you can still use vegetables
and have a delicious lasagna.
I'm just saying.
Now I'm going to add some seasonings.
Going to do a tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce,
just so we can get a little bit of that umami flavor going,
and then we're going to do
a whole tablespoon of Italian seasoning.
A little more salt and pepper, kind of feeling it out.
Now I'm going to add my very luxurious wine,
which was a $2.99 bottle from Trader Jose's.
Merle doesn't know what she's in for.
Don't come over here! - [Merle] Ooh!
- No, don't look at what I'm doing!
- What do you got going on here, Rachel?
Smells like mushrooms and wine?
Someone's getting fancy on a low budget it seems.
- I don't want to eat my words, but I'm very impressed.
- Okay.
- With what I've come up with so far.
- I see the strategy is just blind confidence, I like that.
It smells delicious, I'm not gonna lie.
- Okay, so this is looking super meaty,
and now it's time to just add in some tomato sauce.
I'm just using a jar of tomato sauce.
We're living life cheap.
And now I'm just going to let this cook
for about 20 or so minutes, and then we can assemble.
First, I'm going to add a little more sauce
to the bottom of the pan.
Now we're going to add some noodles,
some of our tofu ricotta mixture,
a little bit of our meat mixture.
Oh, man, this looks so good,
and I hope Aria likes eggplant.
- [Merle] Now I know why you were asking me that question.
Does Aria like mushrooms?
Does Aria like eggplant?
- Out of nowhere.
- [Merle] It's so nice that you really care.
- I do really care.
And now we're just going to cover the top
with a little more of our pasta sauce.
Who needs vegan cheese when we have dried basil?
Gonna sprinkle on a little bit of this.
Ooh, gourmet.
I'm gonna cover it with some aluminum foil,
and then I'm gonna bake it for 25 minutes at 375.
We're going to uncover it
and bake it for another five minutes,
and then we'll be done.
- It's my turn to step up to the bat.
The first thing we're going to do for this recipe
is to make a nice vegan ricotta,
and what we're going to use for this is cashews.
They are quite a bit pricey.
I will absolutely admit that,
but today this one's on Buzzfeed.
Nutritional yeast.
We've got some lemon juice, olive oil.
Some basil.
I got about a cup and a half here.
Garlic because duh.
And some salt and pepper.
Finally, some water.
Now I know the more expensive budget
is kind of like the bad guy,
'cause it's like so much easier for you,
we wanna root for the underdog.
But reason with me here, imagine this recipe is
for like a date night or a special occasion,
and even though the price point is higher,
it will make many servings.
That is so good!
I'm rooting for Rachel, too,
but she should be shaking her little
non leather boots right now.
- [Rachel] What are you saying about me?
- Now it's time to work with our meat.
First, I'm just gonna add
a little bit of olive oil to the pan.
I'm gonna start it off by adding some diced onions.
I'm going to be using a $30 bottle of wine,
because, well, let's face it, I could, so I did.
I'm acting like I'm really fancy right now,
but realistically, after I've had a couple sips of this,
my teeth are gonna make me look like Schmiegel
from the Lord of the Rings,
so it's gonna take a turn.
My precious! (Rachel laughs)
Let me pour Rachel a tipple of wine.
- Did I smell the sweet scent of a Merlot?
- Merle-O and Merlot!
I'm not rubbing this in your face.
I got to buy a lot of nice ingredients.
- I see you've got some impossible meat, not surprised.
- Oh, what is that supposed to mean?
- An easy choice.
Some of us had to grind up our own vegetables.
Okay, how about let's make a little bet.
- Okay.
If I win, I get to take over your Instagram for a day.
- Sure.
- I get up to any kind of shenanigans I wish.
- And if I win?
- Pick any guy on hinge for me to go on a date with.
Why am I giving her this idea?
- The stakes are real now!
- A FaceTime date. (clink)
- Aria loves meat.
In this case, I think I've got that to my advantage.
Impossible meat is pretty much
as close as you can get to real beef.
Time to add some wine,
and the alcohol will burn off, so don't you fret.
Add my tomato paste.
Some Italian seasoning.
A little bit of salt to taste.
I'm gonna add in my San Marzano tomatoes.
They have a lot of flavor,
so they're going to take this meat sauce to the next level.
We're making it fancy today.
Oh my God, I'm like Rie!
Making fancy. - Making fancy.
- And now we're going to let this simmer in the pan
for about 25 to 30 minutes.
So now it's time to assemble.
We're gonna start by putting some sauce
on the bottom of our pan.
I'm gonna save a little bit for the end.
Get a little noodle action in there.
One, two, three.
First, we're going to add in our ricotta.
You know, when I go home to see my mom,
I'll probably make her this.
It's pricier,
but it also yields a lot of helpings,
and it is so delicious it's worth it,
and it's kind of fun to do together.
Ooh!
Oh man, that's good stuff.
And then here I've got some vegan shredded mozzarella.
I'm going to sprinkle a little bit of that,
because even though it's not real cheese,
it gets pretty close.
We're nearing the finish line.
Let's put the rest of our sauce on here.
Now, finally, I'm just gonna top it off
with some more of this vegan motz.
So I'm just gonna cover this up
and bake it at 350 for about 25 minutes.
And then I'm gonna take the foil off
and cook it for an additional five more minutes.
- We did it, yay! - We did it, Rachel.
It's been a long day.
- It's been a very long day.
I'll go first, 'cause I'm the cheapster.
- Resourceful - Resource, yes.
It's all about reframing.
- You did an incredible job.
It is almost impossible to find a really good
vegan lasagna for $14 in LA, one serving.
You made a whole pan.
I'm actually very impressed.
- Thank you, Merle. - That's hard.
- Would I have liked to use maybe some walnuts in there?
You know, in a perfect world.
- I didn't have to be as scrappy as you did,
but I will say I'm very with how it came out.
I think it's going to be delicious.
- Well, there's only one thing left to do.
- Aria!
- Aria! - Aria!
- That was scary, I don't know if I like that.
- So we have a lasagna for you.
You don't know who made this lasagna,
and we just want your honest feedback.
- Is there eggplant in here?
That might be lasagna.
Boy, tastes just like lasagna to me.
- Really? - Yeah.
So I love the mushroom.
I think the eggplant is cooked perfectly, it's soft.
This tastes like ricotta.
I love the filling.
That's what Pop-Pop likes.
- Well, Pop-Pop has spoken.
Now it is time for dish number two.
- That's a very good lasagna, too.
This one does not taste as much
like lasagna as the other one.
This is more, I give it more like an 8.5 out of 10.
I think 'cause the cheese tastes like it's not real cheese.
Everything else tastes pretty spot on.
The meat in the middle tastes just like ground beef.
If we're saying what tastes more like lasagna,
the other one tastes more like lasagna.
Tastes less like lasagna,
but I would eat this one instead of the other one.
- [Merle] Okay.
- So now we're going to tell you how much they each cost,
and then you have to tell us which one
you think is the best value.
So this lasagna, the whole lasagna costs $14.
- That's impressive, that's impressive.
- And this one, the entire lasagna cost $54.
- That's a hefty price, that's a lot of sushi.
I don't think I spend that much on sushi ever.
I like this dish more, this one tastes more like lasagna.
This has better value, so I think that alone,
this one's the one I would pick.
- All right, we're going to tell you who did what now!
- I hope I'm not sleeping on the couch.
- You sure are.
Rachel's taking over my Instagram for a day, apparently.
(nervous laughter)
- The other thing, too, here is, you know,
you don't have to use a $30 bottle of wine
to make this lasagna.
I would do a combination of the two.
I would make a love child out of these two lasagnas.
- That's a good lesson though.
- So let us know in the comments below
what other kinds of recipes you'd want to see us do
a rich and a broke version of.
- Let's eat all of this lasagna.
- Also, sorry it's like pitch black now, but...
- Hey, it's eight o'clock, like we cooked all day.
- This one, the entire lasagna cost 50.
(laughs)
- Keep that in.
- And this one. (laughs)
- You got this, you got this.
(laughs) - I really can't do it!
- You can.
- The entire lasagna costs $54.
(snorting and laughing)
- Think of my mom's missing cat.
- Oh, my God.
- $54. (laughing)
- Do you want me to say it?
And this one, the entire lasagna costs $54.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)