Hey Reader!
In the 57th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:
- Recipes for my High Protein Cottage Cheese Mac & Cheese and Biscoff Protein Lava Brownies!
- Did you know this crazy fact about chocolate?
- Two nutrition rules to help you think about food less!
- Gifted an unreleased kitchen appliance! Here's what I made with it...
Preheat your ovens…
Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️
High Protein Cottage Cheese Mac & Cheese
I had heard of this high-protein cheese sauce for YEARS so I had to finally give it a go!
It was worth the wait! Incredible option for Mac & Cheese meal prep.
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
High Protein Cottage Cheese Mac & Cheese.pdf
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Biscoff Protein Lava Brownies
If you are looking for a super quick and easy high-protein dessert, this Biscoff Protein Brownie recipe with a LAVA core is it!
Only 272 calories with 20g protein for a BIG brownie!
Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself:
Biscoff Protein Lava Brownies.pdf
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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌
Biscoff Protein Lava Brownies!
Macros for each Lava Brownie (makes 2):
272 Cals, 30g Carbs, 8g Fat, 20g Protein
Here's the recipe and video:
👉 Biscoff Protein Lava Brownies.pdf
Zach's Beats 🎧
Weird Food Fact 🤓
Let’s take it back to 4th grade Zach with a sick bowl cut.
I’m sitting in my room, headphones on, blasting a song I definitely wasn't supposed to be listening to.
Bopping my head to the beat because that's what I saw all the cool kids doing when listening to rap music.
The song I was listening to was "Candy Shop” by 50 Cent.
At some point, I hear the line, “I melt in your mouth, baby, not in your hand,” and I just keep bopping my head lol.
My 9-year-old brain didn't overthink lyrics. I just would rap them 🤣
Fast forward to three days ago, I’m deep into research for this topic when it suddenly comes full circle...
I know exactly what food 50 Cent was referring to (okay, yes I get it, he wasn’t actually talking about food). But the line? It’s a perfect metaphor for today's weird food fact topic.
Have you ever wondered why chocolate melts so perfectly in your mouth?
Turns out, it’s not luck. It’s science (centuries of trial, error, and engineering genius).
The secret sauce? Chocolate’s melting point.
See, chocolate melts at about 93°F (34°C), just a hair below human body temperature.
So while it holds its shape in your hand, the second it hits your tongue? Instant transformation into a creamy liquid.
Now, this didn’t happen by accident.
Way back in the day, chocolate makers were basically running mad scientist experiments with cocoa butter, trying to perfect the melt.
Cocoa butter (the key ingredient) contains fats that are solid at room temperature but liquefy when they come into contact with body heat.
Get the ratio wrong, and you end up with something that either won’t melt or turns into a greasy mess.
Imagine those early chocolatiers, covered in cocoa, tweaking formulas like alchemists, chasing that perfect melt.
And after years of testing and tasting (a tough job, but someone had to do it 🤣), they finally got it right.
Fast forward to today, and chocolate’s melt-in-your-mouth magic is a model for other industries.
Engineers have studied chocolate’s behavior to design everything from high-end confections to medications that dissolve on contact.
So the next time you savor that perfect melt, remember you’re experiencing a masterpiece of edible engineering, crafted over centuries to deliver pure joy with every bite.
And this is a microcosm of today's current food culture.
Companies spend billions of dollars each year to develop the most delicious and highest palatable foods to make you want endless amounts of them.
But I think of it is as a privilege that we get to enjoy such delicious creations rather than being mad that these foods are allowed.
I think we can enjoy these foods in moderation and not give them too much power.
You know my stance on this by now if you've been reading this newsletter.
But if you are new here just know that you CAN have ALL foods and still be the healthiest version of yourself.
Just need to put yourself in the best position to succeed when eating them.
Anyways, hope you learned something new about chocolate!
One FAQ ❓
Question of the Week:
“Zach I’m like you in that I LOVE food. But sometimes I feel like it consumes my life. I can’t stop thinking about it sometimes and that leads to me snacking when I shouldn’t. Do you have any tips for this?”
Answer: I sure do!
I get this question a lot so I’m going to answer this in the way you need to hear it.
Because you’ve probably not heard of these two nutrition rules.
Well maybe you have, but definitely not in the way I am about to describe them.
They are game changers for your nutrition.
Nutrition Rule #1:
Have something better to do than think about your next meal.
Just like having something better to do than waiting for a text back.
Your nutrition and relationships will thank you for it.
It is unreal how much we self-sabotage ourselves.
How our brains can create stress out of thin air.
How we take a great situation and envision the worst.
Not getting a text back leads to irrational thoughts of “Am I good enough? Does he/she even like me?”
Or…
Thinking about our next meal leads to an extremely food-focused mindset.
Thus leading to you not being present in between these meals.
Or even self-sabotaging you into creating unwarranted cravings that will throw you off track with your nutrition.
My point here is to be careful.
It’s ok to game plan. To assess a situation. To reflect on that assessment.
But too much thinking can lead to a rational assessment becoming an irrational conclusion.
It’s a slippery slope.
And here’s the thing also, I don’t know about you, but when I am working on something and I get into a deep flow state…
Hunger disappears. Hours can go by and I realize, “Ohh shit I need to eat!”
That’s the same with texting anyone back!
My friends know me as “times Zach will text back” and “times when Zach is working and will not text back.”
So my days are broken up into sections where I can work and have zero thought of food.
And then time periods when I am eating and can be fully present with my food.
I eat 3 times per day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Few snacks in between.
But having fulfilling work in between these meals makes it easier to not need food to be an escape for me.
And that leads to...
Nutrition Rule #2:
Want to know a game changer for your nutrition?
Like THE game changer of all game changers?
It’s one word…
Happiness.
The happier you are, the less you need food to help you escape from reality.
And this piggybacks off of the first nutrition rule…
We will spend a lot of our life working. It’s just the reality of life.
8 hours per day, 5 days per week, for the best years of our lives.
That’s 2,080 hours per year (aka about 25% of every single year).
Another 8 hours per day will be spent sleeping.
So moral of the story is, having things you enjoy doing in your life (aka work and what you do in your free time) matters big time.
It’s easier said than done.
I don’t have a special answer on how to be happy.
I’m still figuring it out myself.
But I can say as each year goes by, my overall happiness has gone up as well.
So my best advice is to start being aware of these moments where you are enjoying yourself.
And then think about how you can make them happen more often.
“Ohh shit I really enjoyed today!”
Instead of that just being the end of it. Think of how you can make it happen more often.
- How could my life look like this more often?
- What would I need to change?
- Who would I hang out with more?
- What would my schedule look like?
- How can my work coincide with this or even help me achieve this “Oh shit today was good” type of feeling?
OR vice versa…
- “Today really sucked.”
- How do you avoid that?
Reverse engineering your life is a great first step.
Don’t think of it as a complete overhaul because it isn’t.
It’s just being aware of what those happy days look like.
What did you do to put yourself in the best position to be happy?
Make that list.
Control what you can control.
Because the more aware you are, the more you can do of those things to make happy days happen more often.
Serving Surprise 😮
Let’s talk about maximizing bites while keeping your calories in check.
The other day, I was getting some cake cones to mess around with the new and unreleased Ninja Swirl (a new variation of the Ninja Creami but with a soft-serve function attachment).
Spoiler alert, it’s pretty cool! But is it worth it? Still gathering my thoughts. Will share that in the coming week or so.
BUT, as I was getting those cones, I stumbled across these 5-calorie mini ice cream cones!
Yes, they are only 5 calories each which is insane.
But what did I do with them?
Of course, they could be used for putting ice cream in them just like a normal cone. BORING.
I wanted to make them more of a low-calorie snackable option for those sweet craving moments that pop up throughout the day.
So I started to brainstorm a bit.
And that took my memory back to a couple of months ago when I tried a brand called Muddy Bites.
So my idea was to stuff these cones with a high-protein filling and then dip in chocolate.
So I made a protein cookie dough. Filled the cones with it. Dipped in melted chocolate and added to the freezer!
And BAM. A snackable macro-friendly sweet treat for only 68 calories!
Definitely give this recipe a try.
Here's the link to it:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/DE5UeEeuFK3/
Then I just added them to a freezer-safe bag and I have these to snack on all week!
I said it above, but I want to say it again...
Companies are pouring billions into creating the most delicious, crave-worthy foods imaginable.
And honestly? That’s kind of amazing.
It's a privilege to enjoy them.
They don’t have to control you and they don’t have to derail your goals.
You can enjoy these creations and still be the healthiest version of yourself.
You don't have to say no. It’s about setting yourself up for success with moderation.
Food should be enjoyed, not feared. Let’s keep it that way.
Your friend,
Zach