Hey Reader!

In the 122nd issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Chipotle Ranch Chicken Salad and Protein PB Whips!
• A job listing? Join the FDL team here!
• The truth behind why pumpkin is in my chocolate recipes...
• The rise, fall, and rise of milk again (and 'health waves' explained)...
• This one's for my international peeps! The ingredient I made famous (and why it's so great)...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Chipotle Ranch Chicken Salad If you are looking for an easy meal prep salad recipe for the week, this is a must-try! Just note if you want this for meal prep, keep the dressing on the side! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Chipotle Ranch Chicken Salad.pdf​

Protein PB Whips Like little mini ice cream cakes! And the best part, they only take a few minutes to make! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:​ ​​​Protein PB Whips.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

If I had to rank my top 3 of my Protein Ice Cream Recipes, my Biscoff Protein Ice Cream is MOST DEFINITELY Top 3. A must-try if you haven't yet!

​​Macros for the WHOLE Pint w/mix-ins:​
400 Cals, 35g Carbs, 12g Fat, 38g Protein

Here's the video and recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/C0R2881uYEi/​

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Join Team FDL 🤓

We're hiring!

We're looking for a part-time, remote customer support teammate to help us answer emails and take care of the FDL community.

We'd genuinely love to find this person from inside our own community (because nobody knows the brand like you guys do).

So if that sounds like something you'd enjoy, the application is right below.

👉 Apply here​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

​Frank Sinatra - My Way (Ascension Flip)​

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.

Density. Density. Density.

Why did I just repeat those two words three times in a row?

I don’t know. Just felt right haha.

But those two words are actually the first two that came to mind on why I use pumpkin in a lot of my low-calorie sweet recipes.

Let me give some more context.

Butter/oil are HUGE contributors to the overall calories of our favorite sweet treats.

On average, they contribute 40% to 60% of the total calories. Wild.

So based on rational thinking, if we can substitute the butter/oil for a lower calorie ingredient WITHOUT sacrificing the taste and texture of the end product, that’ll be the best of both worlds.

We will now have a sweet treat for a fraction of the calories.

Lol easier said than done.

I’ve spent the past 12 years battling this simple but insanely complex concept 😭

With a TON of failures.

But also with a good bit of success!

Food science is fascinating.

Over the years, I have accumulated a small list of ingredients that have worked well as a butter substitute.

But there is one that has been the best for DENSITY.

Think a Rich. Chocolate. Brownie.

*Insert pumpkin stage right.

There are not many products where which brand you choose matters.

BUT for pumpkin, it does for sure.

Libby's is by far the best.

And back to the point...

Yes, pumpkin in a brownie. Weird.

But it works soooo well.

And you won’t taste it.

I repeat. You won’t taste it!

You’ll notice most of the time, I only use pumpkin in my chocolate recipes.

Yes, I'll use pumpkin in a few others, but there might be a faint taste of pumpkin.

You’ll taste it IF you are looking for it 🕵🏻‍♂️

But in a chocolate recipe, there is something magical about how the chocolate masks the pumpkin.

So why is pumpkin such a great butter substitute? And how should you use it?

1. It is dense
2. Has a high water content
3. It's fiber helps make it a stronger binding agent
4. Very texture similar (richness/mouthfeel) to butter when used in the right proportions
5. A mild flavor that doesn’t overpower the chocolate

So how do I recommend using it?

My ratio for substituting butter/oil for pumpkin is about a 1:1 ratio.

This is not a perfect ratio but it’s very close.

I’ll give you some recipes in a bit so you can give them a try!

Next up, recipe moisture balance.

Since pumpkin has a higher moisture content, you’ll want to counterbalance this by slightly reducing the other liquids in the recipe (less milk, water, etc).

Lastly, cook time.

Since we are most times cooking with protein powder for a lot of our lower calorie desserts, we want to make sure we pay attention to detail with how long we cook them.

Cooking with protein powder AND with a butter substitute like pumpkin means more attention to detail for cooking times.

And having a high-quality whey/casein blend protein is a must. A just whey or even whey protein isolate (the worst) will not be great no matter how amazing the recipe.

So since pumpkin does have a higher water content, it will stay moist but if you want density, slightly underbaked is the way to go.

The cool part with pumpkin is that you can go underbaked for a brownie and slightly overbaked for a cake. It’s versatile.

And that's really it!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

I know this was pretty technical so PLEASE let me know if there is anything else I need to clarify.

Here are some of the recipes he was looking at (and a great place to start making high-protein/low-calorie baking with pumpkin!).

45-Second Protein Lava Brownie
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxLfJWFLtfF/?igsh=MXZwZHJvOXh4aDRrMA==​

Breakfast Brownie Bites
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzbyvSouIjP/?igsh=MWZsdzQ4YXRhdDNp​

Triple Chocolate Brownie Protein Pizookie
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7UYQEiM3aj/?igsh=MTBwMmQ1cXo3MmhuMQ==​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

Before there was Ozempic making waves in the Hamptons, slimming down celebs to near-skeleton status….

There was another so-called miracle health option that was making its way through the Hamptons…

Oat Milk.

It didn’t promise weight loss, but the hype sure made it sound like it would.

As you and I know, Oat Milk most definitely isn't a miracle food that will make you lose weight.

Calories in vs calories out is the name of the game.

And it's 120 calories per cup (aka not low calorie).

Plus drinking our calories is not the best strategy either.

But this trend of milk alternatives is a fascinating one.

The “Not Milk Generation” is what the younger generation has been labeled.

I personally enjoy almond milk. It's low-calorie and I enjoy the taste.

But the dairy industry or what I like to call “Big Milk,” doesn't care what I think.

They want their market share back.

But before we dive into the war between “Not Milk” & “Big Milk,” let’s rewind a bit.

Milk alternatives aren’t exactly new.

Soy milk has been around for centuries, particularly in East Asia, where it was a staple long before it hit Western grocery stores.

Almond milk traces its roots back to the Middle Ages, popular in both the Islamic world and Christian Europe, where it was often used as a substitute for dairy during Lent.

And in the late 2000s-early 2010s, plant-based milks or “nut milks” (name creeps me out lol) began to rise in popularity.

What's crazy is that it peaked in 2021 at 15% of the total milk market but it seemed much more than that.

I didn't know anyone who was buying regular dairy milk. I guess I was in my own little bubble.

But anyways, here's the punchline of all this.

Health comes in waves.

What does that mean?

This shit is sooo cyclical.

What's demonized will soon become what's glorified.

Dairy milk is now rising in popularity again.

Plant-based milks and products are now being demonized.

It's hilarious how this cycle of back and forth always plays out with any food group, diet, macronutrient, etc.

And the best part is, because you are reading this, you don't have to play into the BS.

You know that if you love dairy-based milk, then drink it!

And if you are dairy intolerant and/or prefer plant-based milks… drink those!

Don't worry about picking up pennies that distract you from the $100 bills.

And worrying about which milk you choose is a $0.01 decision.

Eat/drink whatever milk makes you feel good.

That's all you need to worry about.

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Serving Surprise 😮

I can’t say for sure but I am pretty sure I made this ingredient famous.

I have been making recipes with it since the very beginning of my macro-friendly cooking journey.

Shit I think 2012 is the first time I used it.

I wanted to make a protein pudding and it just was intuitive to use pudding mix to do it.

Then I started dabbling with more ways to use it because I saw how amazing it was at boosting two things:

1. Texture
2. Flavor

And a little bit goes a LONG ways.

You don’t have to use much.

Love ingredients like that.

I am not going to go into a ton of details on how and why it works because I just went into a ton of detail like that with the pumpkin FAQ above haha.

BUT what I do want to do is two things:

First, rank the flavors in order from favorite to least favorite:

1. Cheesecake
2. White Chocolate
3. Chocolate
4. Vanilla
5. Butterscotch
6. Pistachio

Second, this is for my international friends...

I know those of you who are international get mad at me because you don’t have access to it!

Part of this serving surprise is to crowd-source other options outside the US so I can share them with you guys.

I’ve heard Angel Delight is an option in the UK:

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Alright, that's a wrap for this week.

If there's one takeaway from all of this (pumpkin brownies, oat milk vs dairy, all of it), it's that food is way more fun when you stop overthinking it.

Use the pumpkin. Drink the milk you like. Make the brownies.

Life's too short to stress about the penny decisions.

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach