Hey Reader!

In the 55th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my The Spicy THICCC McChicken and OREO Blended Overnight Proats Cookie Dough!
• The science behind plane food tasting weird...
• My 4 keys to tracking homemade sauces and meals accurately...
• How to 2x the size of your meal for only 37 calories...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

The Spicy THICCC McChicken This same sandwich at McDonald's is more calories, more carbs, and LESS protein. So I made my own version to be more in what we want and less in what we don't 😎 Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​The Spicy THICCC McChicken.pdf​

OREO Blended Overnight Proats Cookie Dough I want to show you how to turn your overnight oats into OREO protein cookie dough! Only 404 cals with 36g protein. ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​OREO Blended Overnight Proats Cookie Dough.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

Butterfinger Protein Ice Cream!

Macros for the WHOLE Pint w/mix-ins:​
442 Cals, 41g Carbs, 11g Fat, 43g Protein

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

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Zach's Beats 🎧

Eat your broccoli 🥦 ​Broccoli - D.R.A.M [Chet Porter Remix]​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

You are sitting on the plane waiting to take off...

Then all of a sudden, someone comes on the plane with their stinky a*s food 😭

Me on the plane:

I have never ever wanted to be that person so I just never eat food on the plane lol.

OR maybe I never associated eating food on the plane to be that satisfying!

Hmmmmm a little 30,000 feet foreshadowing right there 😉

Today’s topic is what altitude and cabin pressure do to our taste buds.

Here’s what’s happening:

When you’re at high altitude, the cabin air is pressurized and far less humid (around 12% humidity (drier than most deserts)).

This dryness (combined with lower air pressure) causes your sense of smell to weaken dramatically.

Since smell accounts for up to 80% of what we perceive as taste, your brain doesn’t register flavors as vividly.

It doesn’t stop there...

Research from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany found that sweet and salty flavors are reduced by up to 30% in flight.

The low humidity and pressure dry out your nasal passages (dulling your ability to detect these key flavor notes).

That’s why airlines add extra salt and spices to meals to compensate (like it needed even more lol).

But while sweetness and saltiness are muted, umami flavors (think savory, meaty tastes) remain mostly unaffected.

This explains why tomato juice is oddly popular on planes.

So next time you’re on a flight, lower those delicious expectations!

Now you’ll know why your go-to snacks don’t hit the same.

It’s not your taste buds failing you, it’s the earth’s atmosphere working against them 🌎

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: Tracking homemade recipes like sauces and complex meals can seem complicated, but once you understand how to break it down, it’s actually super duper straightforward.

I’ll guide you through the process using two recipes: my Low-Cal Bang Bang Sauce and Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen.

By the end, you’ll be able to apply this concept to any homemade recipe and track macros like a pro.

Step 1: Track the Sauce – Low-Cal Bang Bang Sauce

Here’s what goes into the sauce:

• 113g Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
• 28g Honey
• 15g Sriracha
• 4g Rice Vinegar
  • 1. Weigh the Total Batch: After combining all the ingredients, the total weight of the sauce is 160 grams.
  • 2. Choose a Serving Size: Let’s say you want each serving to be 40 grams (roughly 2 tablespoons). To figure out how many servings the recipe makes, divide the total batch weight by the serving size: 160g ÷ 40g = 4 servings.
  • 3. Log it in Your Macro Tracking App: Enter the ingredients into your macro tracking app as a recipe with 160g as the total serving size.

Step 2: Track the Whole Meal – Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen

Now let’s apply this same method to track a full meal. The Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen recipe makes 4 big servings and uses only about 1/4th of the Bang Bang Sauce.

Here’s the macro breakdown for 1/4th of the entire recipe (1 serving):

• 392 calories
• 40g carbs
• 12g fat
• 31g protein

How to Track It:

1. Weigh the Total Dish: Once the Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen is cooked, weigh the entire batch. Let’s say it weighs 1,200 grams.
2. Decide on the Number of Servings: Since the recipe makes 4 servings, divide the total batch weight by 4 to get the weight per serving: 1,200g ÷ 4 = 300g per serving.
3. Log the Meal in Your App: Enter all the ingredients into your app as a recipe with 4 servings. Now, every time you serve 300 grams, you’ll know you’re getting 392 calories, 40g carbs, 12g fat, and 31g protein per serving.

A Quick Note on Raw vs. Cooked Weights

It’s important to note that the weight of ingredients changes when they’re cooked. Foods like pasta, rice, and meat can gain or lose water (making the final cooked weight different from the raw weight). This can make tracking tricky if you don’t understand how to approach it.

Here’s how to handle it:

1. Weigh Ingredients Raw: Start by weighing all your ingredients in their raw state. This gives you the most accurate macro breakdown since nutrition labels are based on raw weights.
2. Cook the Full Recipe: Once everything is cooked, weigh the entire dish. You’ll notice that the total cooked weight is different from the sum of the raw weights due to water loss or absorption.
3. Divide the Cooked Dish into Servings: Decide how many servings you want from the total cooked dish. For example, if the cooked batch weighs 1,200 grams and you want 4 servings, each serving will be 300 grams.
4. Calculate the Macros: Since you already have the total calories and macros from the raw ingredients, you can divide those by the number of servings. Even though the cooked weight may change, you’ll have accurate macros based on the raw ingredients.

Why This Method Works for Any Recipe

Whether it’s a simple sauce, a hearty stir-fry, or a big batch of meal prep, this total-weight method ensures consistent and accurate macro tracking.

It works for everything. From sauces to baked goods, soups, and stews.

All you need to do is:

1. Weigh the total dish.
2. Decide on your serving size.
3. Divide the total weight by the number of servings.
4. Log it in your app for easy tracking.

By using this method, you can confidently track homemade recipes without guessing.

Whether you’re enjoying a drizzle of Bang Bang Sauce or digging into a big bowl of Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen, you’ll always know exactly what’s on your plate.

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Serving Surprise 😮

Wanna know an MVP for bulking up your meals?

Literally doubles the food volume for only 30 extra calories.

A whole bag of MF Lettuce!

Stay with me here!

I know it sounds boring as hell.

But lettuce is actually super complimentary to a meal.

So when I want to bulk up a meal, I literally just take the same meal I was going to eat, and then just put in on a bed of lettuce.

For example, let me walk you through one of my favorite lunches.

First, I cook my 16oz of 96/4 lean ground beef per usual. I then take out 1/2 of the meat to save for later and leave the rest.

Then add the pickled veggies to the pan and sauté them a bit with the meat.

Then I melt my 2% colby jack cheese on top.

And WOW so damn good.

I then add some Taco Bell sauce, parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, avocado, and everything bagel seasoning on top.

And then I make some homemade sweet potato fries as well!

This meal makes has soo many bites.

But because I wanted this meal to have a bit less macros, I cut the amount of sweet potato fries in half and replaced it with a bag of lettuce!

So I built a bowl with a whole bag of lettuce on the bottom, then the sweet potato fries, and then the rest of what was in the pan!

This resulted in a nice reduction in the calories without a reduction in the number of bites I had for the meal.

This whole bowl was only 576 Cals, 37g Carbs, 20g Fat, 60g Protein

And as you know by now, more bites = more happiness 😊

Don’t knock it till you try it 😘

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Hope your New Year's resolutions are off to a great start!

Mine started with me being sick but I'm feeling better now so I can't complain.

Here's to a great 2025 🙌

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach

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P.S. If you joined the Carbon builder team, be on the lookout for an email from me and Carbon this week talking about what our next steps are as well as the first updates to come. I’m excited!

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