[john] -ican'thear- [lauren] too bright, one sec.
[john] THE ULTIMATE SNEEZE DAB
[lauren] dab? [john] yea.
[john] i'm with it, i'm like the kids
[lauren] hey everyone, it's lauren! [john] and john.
[lauren] from hot for food! and guess what today is? [john] not today.
[john] tomorrow! [lauren] right! well i meant today's challenge day but tomorrow is Thanksgiving!
[lauren] for all y'all in the US of A.
[john] they're so lucky, you get two thanksgivings from us, one Canadian. which you're like,
[john] "why are they celebrating Thanksgiving before Halloween?" [lauren] yea, no one knows!
[john] and a second for American Thanksgiving. [lauren] yea, so that means you've got lots of ideas piled up on what you're gonna make.
[lauren] maybe you have multiple dinners you need to go to, so this is good.
[lauren] cos we're gonna do THE THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE today.
[lauren] don't show up empty-handed just cos you're vegan and don't expect the host to make all kinds of food for you.
[lauren] that ain't gonna happen! you need to be like "don't worry! i'll bring 2 or 3 things! i'll be fine and everyone can share!"
[lauren] and that will convince people that eating vegan isn't lame!
[lauren] because they'll taste your delicious food, yea. [john] "oh, i get it."
[lauren] anyway, rant over! so last time we did a challenge, it was the Halloween Candy Challenge
[lauren] and that was a challenge! [john] it was scaaaarryyyyy.
[lauren] well, what's scary is you won by a landslide. [john] landslide! that's my biggest win yet i think.
[lauren] yea 75% for john's orange chik'un that was crusted with pretzels or whatever you did.
[john] not whatever! [lauren] no, it was really good! and then i got 24% of the votes for my apple caramel cheesecake.
[john] savoury over sweet. it'll always win.
[lauren] yea! you know guys, sweets don't do well on this channel. i don't know what it is, like even pumpkin scones last week,
[lauren] just creeping and crawling up in views, people want savoury dishes for some reason!
[john] any food network show, any challenge show, when somebody gets a dessert, they go home.
[john] because it's like, you can't put a dessert up against a savoury dish.
[john] that's just not fair, they're not in the same category. [lauren] i've done it twice now,
[lauren] Munchies Challenge i made a sweet, Halloween Challenge, made a sweet. [john] lost, lost.
[lauren] and the thing is i'm trying to be like "oh i'll make a sweet to balance it out, give more variety"
[lauren] i too also prefer savoury over sweet, i don't even really like desserts.
[lauren] so i guess i should just never go there and don't worry, i'm not doing that today.
[lauren] sorry, pumpkin pie is not happening on this channel! we've done enough pumpkin stuff.
[lauren] alright! well let's begin, shall we? THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE. you can go anywhere with this.
[john] here we go!
[lauren] i'm just getting started here, mashing some yellow potatoes that i already boiled, i don't think you need to be shown how to do that.
[john] you planned? [lauren] yea. [john] i also planned.
[lauren] that's where we're at now, we're professional.
[john] well, there's some high stakes now, it was like "hehehehehe" in the beginning
[john] and now it's like, i care! i really care!
[lauren] no, but i think it's really not about competition for us, i don't think anyways.
[john] i just wanna make a good recipe. [lauren] yea, i want you to have two good dishes and
[lauren] that's the cool thing, is you get two recipes in one video so
[lauren] anyways, we just gotta step up our game which i think we have been,
[lauren] and what are you making there, mr cauliflowers?
[john] i have a secret weapon.
[lauren] i hope you're not gonna use that on meat.
[john] kay i'm gonna take the cauliflower and this is essentially gonna be my "turkey"
[john] one of the things you miss out is we bring a lot of side dishes to Thanksgiving,
[john] but we don't really have a replacement for the turkey, the main component.
[lauren] uh, i made the thanksgiving roast last week. [john] the roast beast is amazing,
[lauren] yea, just saying. [john] but still not [lauren] it's a main! [john] it's a main...
[lauren] but anyway, it's another main. [john] it's amainzing but this is another main and we're gonna see how this works out
[john] whole roasted cauliflower but it's gonna be crazy, just you wait.
[lauren] i originally was gonna make a thanksgiving sandwich, which is- i mean, everyone's seen those.
[john] the leftovers sandwich. [lauren] yea, except mine's not leftovers.
[lauren] mine's like "just make it for thanksgiving" [john] mhm.
[lauren] using mashed potatoes on it, i'm gonna use obviously slow roasted vegan chicken.
[lauren] but it's kind of like turkey cos it's almost like a dark meat, just this particular brand.
[lauren] our mushroom gravy and cranberry sauce on a sandwich!
[lauren] but then just before we started this video, i was like "ahhh! hello thanksgiving waffles!"
[lauren] so remember how i kinda messed up those potato waffles in RECIPE?!
[lauren] and everyone said i wasn't supposed to whirl them through the food processor cos they got too starchy.
[lauren] i'm gonna de a redo on that, and we're gonna mash these and make waffles,
[lauren] then we're gonna put the turkey, the gravy, the cranberry sauce on top.
[lauren] no bread! so that's my- that's what i'm doing.
[john] waffle redemption. [lauren] waffle redemption,
[lauren] ahh, that's annoying.
[lauren] so you wanna hand mash your potatoes. i'm gonna add a couple tablespoons or vegan butter to this.
[lauren] apparently you don't need any liquid though.
[lauren] cos you want the potatoes to be pretty dry when they go into the waffle iron.
[lauren] you wanna be pretty generous with the salt and pepper.
[lauren] also, the butter's salted so don't need too much
[lauren] i'm gonna crush some garlic into there
[lauren] i've got some leftover green onion so we'll fold some of that in there.
[john] so the first things first, i know that i'm gonna need to get this cauliflower all trimmed and cleaned up
[john] so i'm just gonna start by getting rid some of the gross bits.
[john] i need to essentially getting rid of this so it sits flat into the pan
[john] now you got this little ugly stalk that's kinda living on the inside
[john] so very carefully, if you go too deep with the stalk, this is what's holding the entire roast together
[john] so you have to be very careful taking this out.
[john] it's like surgery
[john] this is why i bought the second cauliflower, the backup cauliflower.
[john] so that's essentially what we want to get to, it's just cauliflower now.
[john] the best thing for this is gonna be to roast it in this iron skillet.
[john] and just like a regular turkey, it's gonna be time.
[john] i think i'm just gonna have to roast this thing and constantly keep basting it and dressing it with the sauce
[john] and really make it flavourful cos i don't want to cut into this cauliflower and have it just be
[john] nice and beautiful looking on the outside and then dry and plain in the middle
[john] so it's gonna be about getting as much flavour in the cauliflower as possible.
[john] so we're adding melted butter into this pan, it's gotta be the base of our dish,
[john] there's no fat in this dish with all of the ingredients i'm planning to add so you can give a healthy portion of butter in this.
[john] to the melted butter we're gonna add some garlic and shallots.
[john] so the holy trinity when it comes to these thanksgiving dishes is celery, onion and garlic.
[john] i think that if i add celery to this it's gonna be too thick
[john] and i won't be able to baste it onto the turkey cauliflower so i'm gonna use celery salt instead.
[john] at this stage, it's all about aromatics so i think nutmeg is going to really help add some thanksgiving joy to it.
[john] i'm gonna add half a cup of tamari,
[john] so this is vegan worcestershire, it's optional. it's just gonna help add some of that
[john] molassesy, umami thickness that we really want.
[john] when we cook down the tamari, it's gonna essentially do the same thing so if you don't have it, it's not the end of the world.
[john] so we're getting there, sugar's gonna be important to this too because we really wanna get like
[john] a thick crust caked on the outside of this cauliflower
[john] so adding maple syrup, i think is gonna give us the sugar that we need to make that happen.
[john] so we're gonna thicken the sauce up with a little bit of tahini.
[john] i'm really liking where the sauce is flavour wise,
[john] i don't wanna do anything else to it but it's definitely not enough sauce
[john] because i want this thing to be drenched, so i might just go back and double everything
[john] so i just quickly double everything, now i'm gonna add in the herbs,
[john] some black pepper and stir it up.
[john] this is like the perfect gravy sauce for this, like it's actually unbelievable.
[john] i'm gonna add this to the cauliflower as it is, it's nice and thick so it's really gonna coat it
[john] i poured it upside down cos it's now gonna travel to all those little channels of the cauliflower and get trapped in
[john] we just wanna make sure we get it in all the nooks and crannies so i'm gonna give it a brush.
[john] it's okay that it's all falling off cos that's just gonna be part of the sauce and we're gonna put right back into it
[john] so the oven's at 425F, this guy's gonna go in, start roasting.
[john] i'm gonna prep all the rest of the veggies and stuff that's gonna go onto this big skillet for the final reveal
[john] so here we go!
[john] bye!
[john] so i've got a little bit of- what do you think?
[lauren] yea, that sauce is great! [john] so i'm just thinning this out a little bit for when - get out of here!
[john] for when the cauliflower comes out, so i can baste it on.
[lauren] it's tasty, that sauce
[lauren] all i have to do now is heat up in a pan, my turkey, my vegan chicken with the gravy
[lauren] and i actually happen to have gravy from Canadian Thanksgiving frozen so i just thawed it, it's ready to go.
[lauren] once i heat it up, it should look okay and if i want it smoother,
[lauren] i can just use an immersion blender which i might do to get it thinner and more smooth-looking.
[lauren] we're fooling all of you people out there that when we say chicken, we mean real chicken.
[lauren] IT'S VEGAN, okay? it looks very realistic, it tastes amazing.
[lauren] alright so this stuff is weird, gelatinous.
[lauren] but if we stir it up it'll be fine.
[lauren] alright, my waffle iron is hot so we're going in with the mash,
[lauren] and it's lightly oiled.
[lauren] hope this works this time!
[john] this looks insane! it's totally gonna work.
[john] i've literally never used one of these before.
[john] there's a lot of these delicious drippings on the bottom, we're gonna take that and we're gonna glaze with that also.
[john] really rustic, we've got onions, carrots, potatoes all chopped up here.
[john] rosemary, garlic, it's all gonna surround the cauliflower and we're gonna put it in for probably 20-40 more minutes.
[john] so these are gonna soak up all the juices that are left at the bottom,
[john] there's garlic, there's rosemary all i'm gonna do is add a little bit of salt and pepper.
[john] so we've got equal parts cornstarch and water because i really like where this gravy's at,
[john] and i just wanna thicken it up without adding too many other elements to that.
[john] okay, we have like a freaking thanksgiving feast on our hands.
[john] two gravies, we've got cauliflower, we've got chicken cranberries waffles,
[lauren] i feel like these go well together.
[lauren] so you're ready to- well you don't have any assembly, really.
[john] yea, i assembled as i went along but i do have one more pièce de résistance, as they say.
[john] do you remember the old-school turkeys that you see in movies and cartoons?
[john] they have- i assume they put these little booties on the chicken [lauren] on the feet.
[john] of the feet, the feet of the turkeys because they think it looks gross to have like the- [lauren] yea i wonder why, we should look that up.
[john] so i'm gonna put little cauliflower boots on em.
[john] i think- [lauren] -pfffts hysterically-
[lauren] the feet are at the side, at the back. i mean this is kinda gross that we're comparing cauliflower to an animal but
[john] i need like a thimble cos it's poking me. it wants to come out the end of the cauliflower- oh there we go.
[lauren] -laughs-
[lauren] okay, let's assemble!
[john] it worked! [lauren] it looks like a turkey! kind of.
[john] i'm gonna eat it. [lauren] yea
[lauren] looks good.
[john] it's moist. [lauren] woah
[lauren] i like that.
[john] it's exactly what i wanted, it's like there's some meatiness to it [lauren] mm, give me more!
[lauren] yea, we already know that cos we make all this cauliflower stuff.
[john] i think i did too conservative of a slice, i'm gonna go deep, i'm gonna go deeper!
[lauren] thick inch on there. like the way we do our steaks.
[lauren] sort of just falls apart nicely in a way though.
[john] yea, into the veg which is kinda nice [lauren] cos you can just carve it and make a roasted veg
[lauren] it just looks cool to present it that way. [john] yea, here's an inner piece.
[lauren] mm! i really like the tahini.
[lauren] yea, i would eat this whole thing
[john] now, the booties are a little bit comical but [that is fine?]
[lauren] i think they get it
[john] wow
[john] the best part about that is that would turn some [?] thanksgiving
[lauren] yep, people would love that.
[lauren] also, remember i did do that roasted cauliflower on the blog?
[lauren] i didn't put enough stuff on it so this is a good redo.
[lauren] cos that was thick enough that it got deeper in.
[john] so the perfect amount where if that was saucy throughout, i think it'd be too much.
[john] the outside, the crust of this is so flavourful, it's crazy!
[lauren] waffle time!
[john] are you happy you did waffles instead of sandwich? [lauren] yes, mainly because
[lauren] this heavy stuff on a bun? i think would be a little cray.
[john] veggies are perfect.
[lauren] mm! having the potato waffles as the bun
[lauren] i mean it's just kind of a novelty, it's still mashed potatoes, chicken gravy and cranberry sauce.
[lauren] but the waffles are crispy
[john] this is actually one of the best gravies we've made, we need to turn this into [lauren] yea, this is a gravy recipe.
[john] it's so good!
[lauren] remember what you did so we can actually write it down for people.
[lauren] get the wine!
[john] okay, why do we need wine? [lauren] i don't know, every thanksgiving dinner you have to have wine with dinner.
[john] you know what, we're probably dangerously close to a quarter of a million subscribers
[lauren] we might be! we might be past it, we might be very close!
[lauren] so - we're thankful [john] thanksgiving to you guys for
[lauren] we're thankful for you for watching and following and sharing and liking and subscribing and voting!
[lauren] and all the things!
[john] i don't know who's gonna win, we gotta do the switch.
[lauren] why? i already tried it [john] oh you already tried it so
[john] well, you hang out with that for a bit.
[john] okay, this was a good use of the potato
[lauren] remember? i messed up those potato waffles! don't whirl them through the food processor, don't add flour.
[lauren] again, straight up hand mashed potatoes in the waffle iron.
[john] this is like thanksgiving brunch which you don't really hear about.
[john] cos it's like, everybody's so full the next day.
[lauren] but how about instead of dinner, just do a brunch? is that what you mean? [john] breakfast for dinner!
[john] mm!
[john] if you just look at this before watching the video, i think everybody's gonna think you did that.
[lauren] oh, this definitely looks like mine and that one looks like yours.
[lauren] it's kind of weird, what's happening?
[lauren] twilight zone!!!
[lauren] this is the best meal we've ever made!
[john] true.
[lauren] you gotta love that vegan chicken. it tastes like turkey cos it's like dark meat, it's super weird!
[john] you picked right [lauren] i picked the right product, i'll link it below the one i used.
[lauren] doesn't matter all of our yikity yacking, you need to vote in the poll, click the corner.
[lauren] there's a little i icon.
[lauren] out comes some cards, one is a poll. who wins THE THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE?
[lauren] is it my thanksgiving waffles with mashed potato waffles, slow roasted vegan turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce?
[john] or is it my cauliflower turkey?
[john] my cauliflurkey. my caufurkey. [lauren] oh man, cauflurkey?
[john] cauflurkey [lauren] cauli- caulurkey?
[john] cauliflurkey. [lauren] maybe we should just call it cauliflower roast.
[john] okay, i got it. my roasted cauliflower skillet.
[lauren] nice one.
[lauren] so vote in the poll like we said. leave comments below on what you think of these dishes
[lauren] if you're gonna make them for your family, [john] you have one week.
[lauren] you have one week officially. obviously you can leave comments forever and ever.
[lauren] Amen. but at least, yea, we'll get your votes in within the week before we post next week's video.
[lauren] every wednesday we're here posting content for you!
[lauren] december's gonna be all holiday-themed, so more festivities, more festive stuff!
[lauren] we got a good one coming up next week, and anything else you wanna say before we leave?
[john] thank you.
[lauren] thank you everyone.