Hey Reader!
In the 110th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:
- Recipes for my Gochujang Chicken Sandwich and Birthday Cake Batter Protein Ice Cream!
- Why I use grams instead of cups in my recipes (plus why it’s incredibly important and could be the reason why your recipes are not coming out right)…
- Frozen to macro friendly in just a few steps (try out this recipe)...
Preheat your ovens…
Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️
Gochujang Chicken Sandwich
There is a strong case in my heart that this is the best sandwich I’ve ever made.
It’s insane especially because of the flavors, the sheer size and it’s only 540 calories with 60g of protein!
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
Gochujang Chicken Burgers With Kimchi Bacon.pdf
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Birthday Cake Batter Protein Ice Cream
A WHOLE pint of Birthday Cake Batter Protein Ice Cream for only 255 calories with 36g of protein!
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
Birthday Cake Batter Protein Ice Cream.pdf
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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌
🥞 Protein Pancakes
Macros for each 10-12in Protein Pancake:
320 Cals, 40g Carbs, 4g Fat, 31g Protein
Here's the recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reels/CYr6KnyFPok/
Zach's Beats 🎧
One FAQ ❓
Answer: I replied to the email and gave Shawn a quick answer but I wanted to dive much deeper into this question because it’s really REALLY important.
We have to remember our goal here...
Delicious & Macro Friendly
We are trying to have the best of both worlds.
And in order to do that, it means attention to detail.
The ingredients we use matter.
And the precise amounts of each ingredient matter.
That’s where the food scale comes into play.
The grams on the scale are precise. The imperial system aka cups/tbsp/tsp are not (the amounts can easily vary by 20%-50%).
And why does that matter?
Two big reasons:
- 20%-50% more of an ingredient means more calories/macros aka less macro-friendly.
- The food science component of the recipe can/will be thrown off (and we don't want a cardboard-tasting dish).
When we are making a macro-friendly recipe (especially when baking), we are relying on complex interactions of ingredients to achieve a rare result.
We don’t have the luxury of the high-calorie versions of the foods we are creating aka endless amounts of butters/oils, sugar, and flours.
So if you are using the imperial system (cups, tbsp, tsp), you run the risk of throwing off these complex interactions (aka the recipe not coming out how it should).
The food scale leaves zero doubt.
And it’s actually MUCH easier to use than the imperial system anyway.
- Step 1: Add bowl to scale
- Step 2: Tare (zero) out the scale (aka press one button on the scale to zero it out so it only accounts for ingredients being added to the scale).
- Step 3: Add your first ingredient to the scale until it reaches the grams in the recipe.
- Step 4: Press the tare button to zero it out and add the next ingredient.
- Step 5: Repeat for all your ingredients!
Soo easy and saves dishes!
Key takeaways:
- The food scale doesn’t lie. The imperial system can and will.
- We are creating the best of both worlds (aka delicious and macro-friendly). So this rare result requires us to be precise.
- A food scale is much easier to use than the metric system and makes fewer dishes.
And if you want to get the food scale I use, here’s the Amazon link.
Serving Surprise 😮
As you might remember, I prefer frozen veggies over fresh ones for a LONG list of reasons.
So while at HEB (where I do most of my shopping), I was in the frozen veggies aisle snagging my many bags for the week.
Then, in the corner of my eye, I see this bag:
I look at the ingredients because most times with the frozen diced potatoes, they are already covered in oil and the macros are terrible.
BUT these were not. It was literally just potatoes, peppers, and onions.
So not only was this macro friendly BUT also convenient as hell because dicing up potatoes, peppers and onions that small would be annoying.
So I snagged a bag.
And MAN am I glad I did. The meal I created with these was unreal.
And the macros are immaculate 🤌🏻
635 Cals, 63g Carbs, 17g Fat, 61g Protein
Let me show you how.
Just like my “Easiest Fries Ever” recipe, I just throw the potatoes into the air fryer raw dog (aka just the potatoes, no oil, no seasoning, nothing).
I put about 350g into the air fryer.
I air fry them at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, mixing them around every 5-7 minutes to make sure they cook evenly.
And then once golden, I add them to a bowl, spray them with avocado or olive oil, and toss.
Then I add my sea salt and garlic powder and toss some more.
These will be the base of the meal.
I then added some chopped cheese, ground chicken on top, along with salsa, sriracha, pickled red onions/jalapenos, and avocado.
MY GOODNESS was this meal amazing.
So wanted to share this because potatoes are extremely underrated as a high-volume/macro-friendly carb source.
And this meal was incredible with them.
If you don’t have an HEB, I think there will be something similar at your grocery store.
The concept is the same.
Let me know when you give it a try!
If you live in the US, you're likely snowed in right now!
In Austin, we're snowed in with 1/2 inch of snow 🤣
There are legit zero cars on the road.
Hope you stay warm and have some good food to eat this weekend!
Much love and happy cooking,
Zach