Hey Reader!

In the 59th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad and OREO Protein Dirt Cups!
• McDonald's privately released this and it was quickly shut down...
• How to start your macro-friendly journey to hit your goals...
• A NEW cereal sparks some debate (here's my take)...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad If you are looking for an easy meal prep pasta salad recipe for the week, this is a must-try! This makes 4 big servings 🙌🏻 Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad.pdf​

OREO Protein Dirt Cups A perfect low-calorie, high-protein snack for the week! Takes 5 minutes to make and are amazing for sweet treat meal prep! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​OREO Protein Dirt Cups.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

Sticky Honey Sriracha Chicken Tenders 🔥

Macros for each Chicken Tender:
​105 Cals, 10g Carbs, 1g Fat, 14g Protein

Here's the recipe and video:​
👉 ​​https://www.instagram.com/p/C8Z4zlCuWeR/​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

​Seven Lions x Porter Robinson x Alesso x David Guetta x Flux Pavilion (Arius Mash)​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

McDonald’s was this close 🤏 to making history.

Not for a new burger. Not for a secret menu item. Not even for a weird McFlurry collab.

Nope.

They tried to revolutionize vegetables.

Their goal was to get kids to actually eat their greens.

And they thought the best way of doing that was making bubblegum-flavored broccoli.

Yes, you read that right 😆

At some point, someone in the McDonald’s lab thought:

Okay it doesn't sound like that dumb of an idea.

But to start with broccoli and bubble gum?!

And that's the problem...

Kids aren’t stupid.

McDonald’s CEO at the time (Don Thompson) later admitted that the experiment was a complete disaster.

Because while kids love candy and parents love sneaky ways to get nutrients in, bubblegum-flavored broccoli was just... weird.

It confused the brain. It wasn’t candy. It wasn’t broccoli. It was some cursed in-between food that no one wanted to eat.

So McDonald’s quietly scrapped it, and the world was spared from artificially sweetened cruciferous chaos.

But hey, A+ for effort.

And honestly, they were onto something.

Because when food looks good and tastes good, we eat it.

Which is exactly why I take time making macro-friendly meals that actually taste insane but look great too.

But forcing broccoli into a candy costume? Some things just aren’t meant to be lol.

And the irony is, now we are in 2025 and McDonald's doesn't even have salads on the menu anymore 🤣

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: I know this can all seem a bit overwhelming.

You want to lose some body fat but don’t know exactly where to start.

All the recipes. All the calories. All the macros.

When do you eat? What do you eat?

Let me give you a simple 3-step process to getting started:

Step 1: Fat Loss

In order to lose weight, you must be in a “caloric deficit” aka eating fewer calories than you burn.

I did a full 8-Step Fat Loss Guide that breaks down everything you need to know and nothing you don’t.

You can get instant access to it right here.​

Step 2: Gain confidence in the kitchen.

This is as simple as just picking your first recipe to try.

I PROMISE you will do better than you think you will!

Here are a few people who tried out some recipes from my recipe bundle:​

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It does seem scary but I make sure all these recipes are incredibly easy (aka even the worst home cooks can crush them lol).

Don’t pick more than one recipe. Just pick one and give it a try.

Start that momentum.

Because once you do, you’ll have the golden realization:

That at ANY MOMENT, you can walk into the kitchen and have the confidence to solve any craving you are having in a macro-friendly AND delicious way.

That’s truly powerful and will set you up to have full control over your results for a lifetime.

Step 3: This shit isn’t going to be perfect.

I don’t want you to go into this with this elaborate plan when you are still figuring things out.

You just need to get started.

The two biggest dominoes are:

1. Understanding the BIG movers of fat loss (which I cover in this guide).
2. Accumulating recipe cheat codes aka easy recipes that can tackle craving with ease while hitting your macros.

That’s it. Repeat this over time, and you will be unstoppable. I promise.

You will have full control over your outcome, ALWAYS.

And if you want to start with the easiest possible thing, make some food you love!

My "I Can't Believe I Can Eat This" Recipe Collection is 75% off for a little longer (you can check it out here).

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Serving Surprise 😮

25% Less Sugar Cinnamon Toast Crunch & Lucky Charms.

Ohhh shit we have a lower-calorie version of our favorites! FINALLY!

Or do we?

General Mills had a choice:

1. Actually make a lower-calorie version of their cereals that might help people’s health.
2. Slap a 25% LESS SUGAR badge on the box, swap some sugar for extra starch, and keep the calories exactly the same while tricking the masses.

They went with Option #2, because, of course they did.

Let’s break this down...

You see “25% less sugar” and assume, Oh, so it’s got 25% fewer calories, right? Nope. Same calories. Same carbs. Same everything except the sugar count.

• Lucky Charms: 140 calories per cup.
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch: 160 calories per cup.
• Same numbers as the originals.
• Absolutely no reduction in calories whatsoever.

It’s frustrating because the uneducated nutrition consumer will assume that this is healthier thus they can eat more of it.

And what does that do for General Mills? People eat more cereal. They make more money.

If you are a long-time reader of the newsletter, you know I am 1000% not a hater of delicious processed foods!

I think it’s amazing we get to eat them.

But it’s the mindset around these foods that most people do not have.

The understanding that these foods are meant to make you want to eat ALL of them.

So creating a 25% less sugar version will just feed into that “Ohh this is delicious and better for me” thus continuing that loop of overeating on cereal.

Food perspective matters.

Each food plays it’s unique role.

They are all different tools in the healthy + delicious eating toolkit.

I’ll talk more about this in the future.

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New Year’s resolutions are still hanging on by a thread.

The gym’s thinning out, the “no sugar, 75 hard crew" is sneaking bites of dessert, and we’re all just trying to eat healthy without hating life.

That's where I come in.

I’ve got my best-selling "I Can't Believe I Can Eat This" Recipe Collection on sale right now (because, let’s be real, food should taste good AND help you hit your goals).

You don’t have to live off dry chicken and sad salads. I

f you want in, the 75% off sale is running for a little longer.

If not, no hard feelings.

I’ll still be here, helping you make food that doesn’t suck.

Grab it while you can, or just keep making sad, flavorless meals. Your call 😜

Much love, happy cooking,​
Zach

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