- I'm a little nervous.
- She's got vegan cream cheese.
whoa, ho.
- Whoa baby, look at her go.
This is gonna be lit.
- Hey, what's up everybody, it's your girl Merle.
- Hello, I'm Rachel.
Today we're gonna be making vegan Mac 'N' cheese
at two different price points.
We're gonna have a $3 Mac 'N' cheese,
and a $32 Mac 'N' cheese.
So last time we made a vegan lasagna
and I ended up getting the cheap budget.
- And she won.
- This time we're gonna flip a coin again,
we're gonna see who gets which budget.
(tension music)
Heads.
- Heads, I get to do the cheap one.
I don't know why I'm happy about that,
that's like the harder one.
- Yeah, this week again
we will be switching it up for you guys this time.
- I'm gonna have to make a vegan cheese sauce
that's convincing enough to beat store-bought vegan cheese.
So I'm a little nervous.
- But it can be done.
'Cause last time Aria liked the cheaper lasagna.
And then at the end we're gonna have Aria come in here
and he's gonna do a little taste test or rue.
And he's gonna see, which one is, has the better value.
- Feeling good let's do this thing.
(both screaming)
(laughing)
All right, so first thing we're gonna do
is roast some garlic.
And by roasting this
we're gonna concentrate the delicious flavor of the garlic
to give it that really powerful, robust garlicky goodness
that I think we'll take our Mac 'N' cheese
to the next level.
Pop your little top hat back on there
and then we're gonna just wrap it up.
Now, I'm just gonna pop this in the oven,
and I have the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit,
that's 200 degrees Celsius
and we're gonna let it roast for about 35 to 40 minutes.
All right, so now we're gonna make our own oat milk.
I'm always telling people there's no reason for you
to go buy it yourself at a store.
It's so easy to make and oats are cheap.
Not only does it have less of a carbon footprint
than traditional milk, dairy milk,
but also a lower carbon footprint
than like cashew milk or almond milk.
All right, so I have a 1/2 a cup of oats in there,
now I'm gonna add two cups of water.
Now we're gonna blend this up
and something that I do to try to avoid sliminess
because there's a lot of fiber in these oats,
is to only blend for about 30 seconds.
I've noticed that it gets slimy,
or if you do any more than that, hot tip.
(blender whirling)
Now we are gonna strain this out.
Ideally, if you can,
it's great to use like a really thin cloth,
even a cheesecloth, so it's as smooth as possible.
Look at all this stuff we got out of there
just on the first go.
And I'm gonna strain this one more time for good measure.
Wasn't that easy?
And it's perfect for this recipe,
'cause we only have $3, which is insane.
Now what we're gonna do is saute up some shallots
and the reason I'm using shallot
instead of just a traditional onion
is because shallot has more of an oniony garlicky flavor.
I know what you're thinking, we already have garlic,
but listen, garlic that's been roasted taste differently
than garlic that's been sauteed.
So we wanna get as much flavor in this Mac 'N' cheese
as we possibly can.
I'm just gonna add a little bit of salt as well.
- Hello Merle.
- Yes Rachel.
- Oh, what do we have here?
A little shallot action.
- Oh, we got some wandering peepers in the house.
Yes, a little bit of shallot.
You know, I'm just trying to get the most bang for my buck.
- Yeah, with yours three little, three mere, $3.
- She's trying to intimidate me.
It actually feels me on as a matter of fact.
Maybe you shouldn't have made all those videos
about how to budget things
'cause I've learned a thing or two from you.
(laughing)
Okay, so now we're gonna add our shallots to the blender
and it's time to make our sauce.
All right, we've got our little roasted garlic bulb here.
We're gonna just squeeze,
woo-hoo, it's so satisfying.
And then we're gonna add it to our blender.
I've got a roasted red pepper here.
I'm just gonna use 1/2 of it.
And what that is gonna do
is add some more really great punchy, powerful flavor
and also will add a nice color to our sauce.
The reason I'm using these
is because they're actually cheaper when they're jarred
and roasted ahead of time
than they are when you buy them fresh
and roast them yourself.
So that's a little workaround.
We're gonna use a 1/4 of a teaspoon of turmeric,
a 1/2 a teaspoon of paprika,
three tablespoons of nutritional yeast,
this is what's gonna give us the cheesy flavor.
One and a 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch,
and this is gonna help thicken our sauce up
once it's in the pan.
One teaspoon of salt,
1/2 a cup of vegetable broth.
And when it comes to vegetable broth
if you get a Boolean cube and add water to it yourself
it's a lot cheaper than if you buy a carton
of vegetable broth at the store.
One teaspoon of apple cider vinegar,
one tablespoon of tomato paste,
and finally we have our oat milk.
So we're gonna go ahead and add that in there.
All right,
now let's blend all of these ingredients together.
(blender whirling)
Okay, whew, wow.
There is a conversation going on in there I interrupted.
Smells like I'm gonna win.
Oh, I hear you chuckling over there.
- Hi. - Have a sniff.
Doesn't it smell good?
- Oo, impressive.
- Do I detect a shiver in you speech?
- I look a little like carrot juice to me right now though.
(laughing)
- We're not finished.
All right, and this is our final step.
We are gonna add our mixture to a pot
and don't worry if it looks thin
because as we have this over the heat
we're gonna mix it for about five minutes or so
and that will thicken it up.
The corn starch will be our thickening agent,
and will activate with the heat.
And you wanna bring this to a boil
and once it starts boiling we're gonna turn it back down.
All right, this is looking fantastic.
The back of the spoon is coated.
Now we're just gonna add in our pasta.
I decided to go with a classic elbow Mac 'N' cheese
'cause I think this cheaper pasta
is probably gonna be more
of the kind of like boxed Mac 'N' cheese feel.
Oh yeah, coated up elbow Mac 'N' cheese.
All right, this is looking heavenly to say the least.
So now it's, Rachel's turn to step up to the plate
and make her Mac 'N' cheese.
I'm feeling pretty good though.
- Okay, so I have $32 to make this Mac 'N' cheese now
and I am gonna go a little crazy.
So I think one way we can really elevate
this Mac 'N' cheese and take it to the next level
is to put on some fancy breadcrumbs.
I drew a little bit of inspiration
from Alvin's Ultimate Mac N' Cheese Recipe video.
And I saw that he used his bacon
and his bread crumb topping.
So I thought, why not use some Shiitake mushrooms
and make a little Shiitake mushroom bacon
which is like one of my favorite things ever.
It's gonna be lit.
So I'm just gonna cut the mushrooms into really thin strips
that are about an 1/8 of an inch thick,
two and a 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil,
because we want these to get really crispy,
some salt, like a good, good amount of salt to taste
and some pepper to taste.
Mix them up, we want them to be nice and oily.
So then just make sure they're nice and spread out
and they have plenty of room.
And now I'm just gonna bake these
at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.
Okay, so now I'm gonna get started on making
our bread crumb topping.
So first I'm gonna add two tablespoons of olive oil
to a pan.
One and a 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs,
1/2 a teaspoon of paprika,
1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder, some salt.
And then here, I'm gonna get extra fancy because I can
and I'm gonna add in some vegan Parmesan,
this smells so good.
All right, and then lastly,
I'm just gonna add in some chives.
Okay, so I just took the Shiitake mushrooms out of the oven
and I'm gonna add them in,
if they're not completely crispy yet,
but that's because we're gonna put
this bread crumb topping back into the oven at the end
and I didn't want them to burn.
Oh my God, I am so excited about this.
So you can't have a Mac 'N' cheese without milk.
So I'm gonna make some homemade cashew milk
because it's about 10 times better
than store-bought cashew milk.
So I added one cup of cashews that I boiled for 10 minutes,
three cups of water,
and then I'm just going to blend this up.
(blender whirling)
And now I'm just gonna stick my little fingers in here
and make sure that it's not gritty,
'cause we don't want any of that grit.
If you have a higher powered blender,
definitely use it for this
because you want to get this as smooth as possible.
So now let's get started on the sauce.
First, I'm gonna add a 1/2 of stick of vegan butter,
three tablespoons of flour,
I'm gonna just mix this really well until it forms a rue.
We want it to look like wet sand.
(laughing)
Hello.
- What are you doing in there Rachel?
- Oh, you know, just making a little rue.
- Yes, this one does.
- 'cause some of us have a vegan butter
in our arsenals today.
- Yes I guess we do, don't we?
You know what Rachel?
I'm not threatened.
I don't need a rue.
- Don't be scared.
- She is got the, the shutter shreds,
she's got the smoked Gouda slices,
she's got vegan cream cheese,
but I'm actually really excited to try yours (indistinct)
(laughing)
- Okay, so our rue is looking nice and toasty.
I'm gonna add in our homemade cashew milk
and give this a little stir.
And now we're gonna add our seasonings,
a whole teaspoon of salt,
1/2 of a teaspoon of black pepper,
two whole teaspoons of garlic powder,
one teaspoon of onion powder,
an 1/8 of a teaspoon of cayenne, to give it a little pizazz.
For once in my life I don't have to rely
on just nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.
But we're still gonna put some in the good measure,
but only two tablespoons.
Give this a stir.
Okay, now for the fun part,
we are gonna add some Daiya vegan cheddar shreds,
I highly recommend using Daiya because it melts really well.
And then I'm also going to add in this special ingredient
of vegan cream cheese.
I'm just gonna mix this all together.
Hoo baby, look at her go.
So now I'm gonna go ahead and stir in my noodles.
Okay, so now I'm gonna spoon 1/2 of the Mac 'N' cheese
into this cast iron.
Oh my God, this looks so good.
I'm gonna take some Gouda slices, I love Gouda cheese.
So I did six slices of Gouda cheese in the middle
so we can have a little cheesy surprise.
And then I'm going to top it
with the rest of the Mac 'N' cheese.
Oh God, I'm so happy I can afford cheesy surprises.
Ooh baby.
But wait, there's still more.
'Cause now I'm gonna top this
with the rest of our cheddar shredded cheese,
just for good measure.
And now I'm gonna bake this for 15 minutes at 375,
just so we can get all of the cheese melted.
Okay, we just took the Mac 'N' cheese out of the oven.
The cheese looks nice and melted now.
I'm gonna add on the breadcrumbs.
So we're just gonna bake this again for five more minutes
to toast the bread crumbs
and finish cooking the mushroom bacon,
and it should be perfect.
Okay, so we just pulled our Mac 'N' cheese out of the oven.
The mushroom bacon is looking perfect.
And now I'm super excited to use this ingredient
because I've never used it before.
But I'm going to top this Mac 'N' cheese
with a little bit of truffle oil
to make it extra, extra fancy.
Now it's time to have Aria judge.
- Ooh. - Okay Aria.
- Oo Mac 'N' cheese.
- So we have two Mac 'N' cheeses for you,
you don't know who made which one.
- [Aria] No. - [Rachel] Go ahead.
- Oh this smells so good.
I've had Mac 'N' cheese in a long time too.
I'm gonna take this one.
Hmm, it's really good.
I don't know if I making this up,
it has a little hints of tomato for some reason,
I don't know why.
I'm trying to identify what the cheese substitute is
but I can't.
(laughing)
Yeah, and that taste like Mac 'N' cheese to me.
And I can see mushrooms on here.
And this would probably be served in a fancy upscale,
you know, trendy place in Portland,
will probably sell this kind of Mac 'N' cheese.
Pro and Oregon they love this type of cheese.
They do.
Hmm, very different.
The cheese here taste a lot more like real cheese.
Now I'm not a big cheese person,
but it has kind of that,
well, how would you describe that taste of a cheese
when it has a little bit more of like a older feeling to it?
This cheese here.
- Mature.
- Mature, has a mature sharper kind of feel.
I like the breadcrumb topping.
It gives a nice little, little of a surprise,
a little popping cracking in the mouth.
Kind of like those, you know.
- Snap, Crackle, Pop.
- Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
(laughing) - Or Pop Rocks.
- Pop Rocks.
- Pop Pop.
- Yes, Pop Rocks and Pop Pop.
And the mushroom garnish is very lovely.
I liked a little bit of a garnish.
I don't know, maybe this could be true,
there's more of a mushroom in this element in this.
- Okay, so now I'm gonna tell you
what the prices were for each one
and then you have to pick which one is the best value.
This Mac 'N' cheese costs $3,
for the whole thing of Mac 'N' cheese.
- That's impressive. - By the way.
- That's very impressive. - Not the bowl.
And this one was $32.
- So okay, so I'm picking based on the value?
- You know, the value, all of those things.
- Cause I will say I like the taste of this one
better than this one.
However, $32 is a hefty price.
$3 is very impressive for that.
You think is I don't even normally have Mac 'N' cheese.
So I'm gonna go with what I would pick
if I was gonna have Mac 'N' cheese once in a while.
- I'm nervous.
- Good.
- So I will pick,
I'll pick this one.
- Oh my God.
- Uh damn it, will you ever pick mine?
- Okay.
- I wanted the fancy one.
- I really, really didn't think I was gonna win this time.
I'm serious.
- I just figured, you know, like,
if I'm gonna have Mac 'N' cheese once in a while,
I wanna go for a fancy one.
- Why didn't you apply that to the lasagna last time?
You liked it better.
- No he said the other one tasted more like lasagna.
- I went in matter of class.
- Oh, there is also a truffle is this.
- Oh I love truffle.
- Oh my God.
- I know that's the best in mushroom.
That was the mushroom.
- Thank you for saying that.
- Well now you know who really didn't know which was his.
(laughing)
- Thank you both.
- So much
- Ye. - For the treat.
- Okay, well there you have it.
Merle don't be mad at me.
(laughing)
- I just keep getting beat down I come back again.
I'm gonna just have to come back
even stronger the next time.
The bottom line is, even if Aria picked this one
I think at the end of the day we have given two people,
two very, very delicious options
no matter what your budget is
or what you're looking for in a Mac 'N' cheese.
- Yeah, thank you so much for watching
and let us know in the comments below
what you want us to make next.
- What do you wanna see me lose at making?
- No, I bet you next time Merle is gonna win.
- Only because I'm gonna have
Aria's hand twisted behind his back always on.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
I actually really do like the breadcrumbs in that.
- Okay, I take it back, this one is real good.
- It's really good.
- It was really really good.
(upbeat music)