Hey Reader!

In the 141st issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Chicken Bacon Ranch Twice Baked Loaded Potatoes and XL Chocolate PB Banana Protein Frozen Yogurt Cookie!
• How to hit your protein when you're away from home...
• Why are these two things on EVERY table across the world?
• How many calories do you think are in the average restaurant meal?

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Chicken Bacon Ranch Twice Baked Loaded Potatoes Twice baked potatoes are a meal prep cheat code! And each only 456 cals with 41g protein! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​Chicken Bacon Ranch Twice Baked Loaded Potatoes.pdf​

XL Chocolate PB Banana Protein Frozen Yogurt Cookie A great meal prep dessert that you can customize to your liking! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:​ ​XL Chocolate PB Banana Protein Frozen.pdf​

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Recipe Recreation Of The Week 🤌

🔥 430 Cal Chick-Fil-A Chicken SMASH Sandwich

Macros for the WHOLE Sandwich:​
430 Cals, 33g Carbs, 9g Fat, 53g Protein

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

If you haven't already, join the FDL Community so you can share your own creations.

​Click here to join now!​

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This Week's Flavor 🎥

🔥 550 Cal One Pan Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Rice 😮‍💨 I took the most iconic depressing dieting meals of all time and made it delicious! ​Here's the recipe and video.​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

​Space Jam - Dominic J​​

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: Great question!

And the fact that you care enough to ask means you're already ahead of most people (so props to you for that).

I'm going to start off by sharing the hell yes or PROTEIN framework.

What this means is, most hell yes foods when traveling are devoid of protein and RICH in delicious carbs and fats.

They are also super dense in calories (aka not very filling).

So around these foods, you want to go digging for that precious gold while traveling.

And that precious gold is lean protein sources.

Think of protein sources that are native to that area that are also delicious (aka they add to the trip!).

For me on this trip, I was close to the coast (so seafood is really good here), and most places will have it on the menu.

So for my meals, I would go with a grilled seafood platter with mixed veggies as my sides.

This provided protein, food volume, satiety, fiber, and micronutrients.

Next up is the emergency protein cookie dough kit.

This is a lifesaver to have when traveling, not only for getting some protein in.

But also as a sweet treat craving crusher.

I used it mostly in the airports.

And would use it as a sweet treat at the end of the night if I wanted something before bed.

All you gotta do is take 1-2 scoops, add to a bowl, mix with water and then you have a cookie dough!

Here is the recipe for each serving. Just multiply out how many servings you think you’ll need on the trip and then add that amount to the bag.

• 30g Vanilla Protein Powder (I went vegan just because I can only handle so much dairy and when traveling, I usually have a good bit so this helps to not add to it.)
• 15g Powdered PB or PB Party Protein Cookie Butter Powder
• 8g Sugar Free/Fat Free Cheesecake Pudding Mix
• 5g Zero Cal Sweetener of your choice
• Pinch of Sea Salt

Then just add to a bag along with a protein scooper so it’s easy to know what a serving is.

2 scoops is around one serving aka 60g.

And let's end on something important...

Your mindset:

Aim for "close enough," not perfect.

You already nailed this in your message with memories over macros.

When you're traveling (especially visiting family) 100% adherence to your 'diet' isn't the goal.

But you're right that there's a big gap between "not being a stickler" and "completely abandoning ship."

We're shooting for that middle ground.

Get CLOSE to 170g, enjoy your trip, don't stress the last 20g or so.

Do that, and you'll have a great vacation and be proud of yourself 🙌

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

Ever wonder why, out of all the spices out there, salt and pepper are always the go-to table staples?

Turns out there’s some tasty history behind this pairing.

Salt has always been king because it was essential for food preservation (there weren't always fridges) and flavor.

The Latin word for salary (salarium) comes from sal (salt)! Pretty cool.

But pepper? All about prestige baby.

Black pepper actually originated in India.

For centuries, getting it to Europe was a tough and pricey journey.

Because it was so rare and expensive, pepper became a status symbol (call it a culinary flex of its day lol).

Wealthy folks started sprinkling pepper everywhere to show off their status.

Over time, pepper became more accessible, but its place at the table stuck around.

The combination of salt (a practical necessity) and pepper (a luxury spice) became a classic culinary duo.

Eventually, restaurants and household tables everywhere adopted salt and pepper as the essential seasoning staples.

And considering I use both in pretty much all my recipes, I'm all for it!

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Serving Surprise 😮

My two favorite game shows growing up were, “The price is right” and “Jeopardy.”

So let’s play a game mixing the two.

I can’t think of a good name. Let’s just call it "The calories are right” haha.

First question:

How many calories do you think are in the average restaurant meal?

1. 600 calories
2. 800
3. Maybe 1,000 if you’re really treating yourself?

Researchers actually put this to the test, analyzing hundreds of meals from restaurants across the country.

For American, Chinese, and Italian restaurants, the average meal came out to…

1,495 calories.

And that’s BEFORE any drinks, appetizers, or dessert.

But the craziest part?

It doesn’t always look like 1,495 calories.

You might order some chicken, rice, veggies, and sauce and think, “Ehhh, 700 calories?”

Meanwhile, you have no idea how much oil the chicken absorbed while frying, how much butter went into the rice, or how much sugar and fat are hiding in that sauce.

And those invisible calories add up FAST.

Just 2 tablespoons of oil is around 240 calories.

This is actually one of the biggest reasons I love recreating my favorite takeout foods at home.

Not because I think you need to give up takeout.

But because when I make it myself, I can be strategic about WHERE those calories are actually worth it.

• I can still use the cheese.
• I can still use the brioche bun.
• I can still bread my orange chicken.
• I can still use real honey and sesame oil in the sauce.

I just don’t need to drown everything in calories to make it taste amazing.

Which brings me to a pretty ridiculous comparison…

In my newest YouTube video, I made 4 of my favorite takeout-style chicken dinners.

• Chicken Chalupa Supreme - 240 calories
• Jalapeño Popper Dipping Burrito - 206 calories
• SMASH Chicken Burger - 415 calories
• Orange Chicken Ramen Stir Fry - 555 calories

If you ate one serving of ALL FOUR…

1,416 calories.

That’s still fewer calories than the 1,495 calorie average restaurant meal from American, Chinese, and Italian restaurants in that study.

Oh, and those four recipes would give you a combined 157g of protein.

Now obviously I’m not suggesting you sit down and eat a chalupa, burrito, burger, AND a bowl of orange chicken ramen for dinner…

Actually, I challenge you to do that haha. You’d be soooooo STUFFED 🤣

But anyways, I just wanted to put into perspective just how quickly the calories can add up when we eat out.

And more importantly, how much food you can still eat when you learn how to make those same foods a little smarter at home.

Like the four recipes in this video:​

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Thank you!

This week I asked members of the app for feedback on the app and it was AMAZING!!

We got 358 responses and 250 said they'd be very disappointed without the app.

So that was nice to hear lol 😅

But I also got a ton of feedback of how to make the app EVEN better.

So my team and I will be working through that list over the coming weeks.

Updates to come!

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach