Hey Reader!
In the 121st issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:
- Recipes for my Popcorn Chicken & Fries Meal and OREO Uncrustable Protein Pop Tarts!
- 7 high protein, low calorie, cheesecake recipes to indulge your sweet tooth. Here they are!
- How you can modify ANY one of my recipes to better fit you!
- 10 quick fire cereal facts that are kind of crazy...
- Save 560 calories with this stupid simple swap...
Preheat your ovens…
Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️
Popcorn Chicken & Fries Meal
If you are looking for one of my favorite fat-loss meals that I eat ALL the time, this Popcorn Chicken & Fries meal is it!
So much food for only 569 calories with 62g protein!
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
Popcorn Chicken & Fries Meal.pdf
|
|
OREO Uncrustable Protein Pop Tarts
Today we have the Apple Pie Protein Ice Cream which is DECADENT for only 285 Calories and 36g Protein for the WHOLE Pint!
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
OREO Uncrustable Protein Pop Tarts.pdf
|
Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌
🥪 XL Grinder Salad Wraps recipe out here changing lives and saving macros!
Macros for the WHOLE Wrap (2 halves):
516 Cals, 26g Carbs, 20g Fat, 58g Protein
Here's the video and recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/C-YEG0zuw7c/
This Week’s Flavor 🎥
Zach's Beats 🎧
One FAQ ❓
Question of the Week:
"I love the recipes, however I like to break up my meals, and sometimes the level of protein is heavy vs the other macros distributions. For some of us dealing with meal time, the 20-40 gram range for us females is ideal. I would like to see some recipes structured as such, or modifications to adjust protein amount ranges."
Answer: I def can see how this can be a challenge and I'll outline how to navigate this.
Let me first explain what my goal is for every recipe I develop.
First priority:
Delicious (aka as close to the “real” high-calorie version).
Second priority:
Macro Friendly (aka “Macro Balanced”). I don't demonize or overly glorify any macronutrient (protein, carbs, or fats). They all have their roles. So I make my recipe so they have a balanced percentage of each so you can stay on track with hitting your macros for the day.
Third Priority:
Easy AF to make. If it isn't ungodly easy for me to make, then I don't put it out. I am 10+ years into this and if it's not stupid easy to me, then it's not going to be easy for you. So I dive back into how to make it a 100% success rate for you.
Ok back to the topic at hand. How to modify a recipe to help you hit your macro goals...
Most of my recipes have a distribution of 40% carbs, 35% protein, and 25% fats.
I think this ratio is great for overall health, performance, and lifestyle nutritional flexibility.
- So if a recipe is too high in calories, you can scale down portion size.
- If a recipe is too high in protein in a savory recipe, just lower the protein source I use.
- If a recipe is too high in carbs in a savory recipe, just lower the carb source I use.
- If a recipe is too high in fats in a savory recipe, just lower the fat sources I use aka using a leaner protein source is a likely solution.
For sweet recipes, the idea is similar to scaling it down (serving size) to make it lower calorie/lower protein.
But if you want the calories to be the same but with lower protein and higher carb, you can just sub out the protein powder 1:1 with all-purpose flour.
The fat content on a lot of my sweet recipes is pretty low so I don't think that's the issue.
This is a deep topic I could go a ton deeper into but this is the general game plan.
Hope this helps and let me know if you guys have any follow-up questions that I can cover in a future FAQ.
Weird Food Fact 🤓
10 Weird Cereal Facts you’ve never heard of...
1.) Fruit Loops are not what you think.
Let me ask you a question first:
What is your favorite flavor fruit loop?
We have green, blue, red, yellow, orange, and purple.
Which one is your favorite flavor?
It’s a trick question. They're all the same flavor 😭
2.) Lucky Charms origins story.
The idea for Lucky Charms wasn’t magically delicious lol.
It was a random marketing executive for the company who took one of the weirdest candies of all time (circus peanuts) and chopped them up into pieces.
Then, mixed them with Cheerios and realized it was BOMB.
3.) Tony the Tiger was the only survivor.
When Frosted Flakes first launched, Tony had competition.
Not from other cereals. Nope.
From inside the company for the lead mascot role...
There was Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant, and Newt the Gnu.
None were as “GREAT” as Tony the Tiger so he still runs the show till this day lol.
4.) Cap’n Crunch isn’t who you think he is.
He isn’t actually a captain.
Horatio Magellan Crunch (Cap’n Crunch) wears a uniform with only three stripes.
What does that mean? It means he’s a commander in the US Navy, not a captain (which would have 4 stripes).
Commander Crunch just doesn’t have the same ring Cap’n Crunch does. I get it!
It was brought up so much in fact, that a year ago, they announced that they added a fourth stripe to him:
5.) Snap, Crackle, and Pop
These three elves were the first-ever cereal mascots.
In 1933, Rice Krispies were launched by Kellogg’s.
The names were meant to represent the sounds the cereal makes when the milk is added.
6.) The first-ever cereal brand.
In 1863, the first-ever cereal brand was launched.
It was called “Granula.”
It was made from dense bran nuggets that had to be soaked overnight before they could be eaten.
So literally brick cereal haha
Mmmm sounds soo good 🤣
7.) Cereal prices adjusted for inflation.
In 1922, a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cost 12 cents.
Today that same box is $5.29.
What’s crazy is, $0.12 in 1922 adjusted for inflation should be $2.13 in 2026.
BUT it’s not what it seems. The boxes in 1922 were only 8oz.
8.) Cereal Mascots are looking down on us
Well not necessarily us.
Many cereal mascots are often designed to look downwards, making eye contact with children in grocery store aisles.
The shit we don’t think about with food branding that influences us to buy!
9.) Cinnamon Toast Crunch wasn’t always the GOAT
In the early 1990s due to massively declining sales, our beloved CTC was nearly discontinued.
But they decided to give it one more quarter.
And they let the fan base show their support to prove they should keep it.
That move led to CTC going on a historic run to the cereal Mount Rushmore.
10.) Cereal mascots not only look down on us.
But they are also most times, left-handed haha.
This is because the majority of people are right-handed.
And when they pour cereal from the box, they’re more likely to see the mascot facing them if it’s left-handed.
Serving Surprise 😮
I just made the best protein cheesecake EVER.
This whole slice is only 172 calories with 22g protein!
Insanity.
It's honestly challenging my whole conception of reality with how good it is.
BUT in this recipe, there is one special ingredient swap that cuts out 560 calories without any sacrifice of taste or texture.
Fat Free Cream Cheese:
30 Cals, 4g Carbs, 0g Fat, 3g Protein
Regular Cream Cheese:
100 Cals, 2g Carbs, 9g Fat, 2g Protein
More calories, less protein.
It really is a holy grail ingredient that you can use to create endless protein cheesecake variations!
In this video, I show you how to maximize it to put fat loss on easy mode.
Here's the link.
Ohh and I also show you how I actually find it since I know I’ll get a TON of questions about that 🕵🏻♂️
That's it for this week. If you take one thing from today's newsletter, let it be this:
You don't have to follow any recipe exactly the way I wrote it.
Well, please use the same ingredients and follow the instructions lol 😆
Scale it down. Adjust the portions to fit YOUR macros.
And if you're still using regular cream cheese... come on now.
And most importantly, go make a protein cheesecake! Trust me 🫡
Much love and happy cooking,
Zach
P.S. If Cinnamon Toast Crunch can go from almost getting canceled to the cereal Mount Rushmore, you can absolutely bounce back from a rough week of eating. Just saying 🫡
