Hey Reader!

In the 79th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Sausage, Egg Whites & Cheese Protein McGriddles and Fruity Pebble Protein Mini Ice Cream Cakes!
• Craving fast food? Here are 7 cheaper and lower calorie fast food recipes!​
• The backwards origin story of appetizers...
• Looking to lose 20lbs? Don't do it too fast...
• Frozen to macro friendly in just a few steps (try out this recipe)...

Preheat your ovens…

---

Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Sausage, Egg Whites & Cheese Protein McGriddles These McGriddles are only 394 calories and have 44g of protein! Perfect for when you're craving McD's but want something a little more quality (and higher in protein!). Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Sausage, Egg Whites & Cheese Protein McGriddles.pdf​

Fruity Pebble Protein Mini Ice Cream Cakes If you are looking for a 3-ingredient no-bake dessert that is incredibly easy to make.. These protein mini ice cream cakes are the one! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Fruity Pebble Protein Mini Ice Cream Cakes.pdf​

---

Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

Biscoff Protein Ice Cream!

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

Here's the recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/theflexibledietinglifestyle/reel/C0R2881uYEi/?hl=en​

---

Zach's Beats 🎧

​Girlz Wanna Have Fun - Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Remix​

---

This Week’s Flavor 🎥

I ordered 7 fast food meals from the most popular restaurants and it cost me $91... So I recreated every single one of them into a delicious high protein low calorie form and it only cost me $26. ​Click here to watch how I did it.​

---

Weird Food Fact 🤓

Appetizers seem pretty straightforward right?

Just something tasty to nibble before the real meal starts?

But their origin story is actually pretty surprising…

Believe it or not, back in ancient Greece and Rome, appetizers weren't meant to increase your hunger.

They were used to curb it.

Meals in those days could stretch on for hours.

So hosts served small bites (olives, nuts, and salty cheeses) to keep guests satisfied enough to stick around, socialize, and enjoy the main feast without rushing or getting impatient.

Fast forward a bit, and the French introduced "hors d'oeuvres" which translates to "outside the main work."

These were fancy, flavorful snacks designed to showcase a chef’s skills and creativity (exciting your tastebuds before the main dishes arrived).

But there was another sneaky bonus for restaurants that caught on later...

Appetizers encouraged diners to order more overall.

That small initial bite of something tasty actually makes you more hungry.

Leading you to order more food (and spend more money) than you otherwise might have.

Pretty clever right?

So next time you're tempted by mozzarella sticks, wings, or the famous blooming onion 🤣 before your meal, just know you're participating in a delicious bit of culinary history.

---

One FAQ ❓

Answer: Great question!

Well done on getting to a good starting point for your calories.

The bodyweight multiplied by 10 is a good method.

Not the best, but generally gets you in a general ballpark to gain some data from.

And that’s the moral of the story for using a macro calculator.

You just want a starting point that is in the 'ballpark.'

So my next question would be how long have you been stuck at that plateau?

A few days? A few weeks?

A few days is not enough data but 10+ days is enough.

So let’s say you have been stuck for 10 days...

Here's a good way to think about it:

So now to create a calorie deficit, you’d need to drop your calories by 100-200 and see how your body weight reacts.

It’s a simple minimum effective dose strategy for fat loss.

Because the goal should be to eat as many calories as possible while losing weight.

I could drop you down to 1500 calories right now and you’d most definitely lose weight.

But that’s not sustainable whatsoever.

Nor is it productive.

And what happens when you plateau at 1500 calories?

What am I going to drop you down to 1400 or even 1300?

Nope sorry not going to do that.

So my best advice is to make a small reduction of 100-200 calories and see what happens with your body weight.

I know you said you wanted to lose 20lbs in the next month or so.

I urge against that because I want this weight to stay off for you.

If you lose 10lbs this next month going into the vacation with another 10lbs coming off in the month after that, I am sure you will be happy about that!

Instead of losing 20lbs fast now and then gaining the 10lbs back because you were so calorie deprived.

Rooting for you!

---

Serving Surprise 😮

As you might remember, I prefer frozen veggies over fresh ones for a LONG list of reasons.

So while at HEB (where I do most of my shopping), I was in the frozen veggies aisle snagging my many bags for the week.

Then, in the corner of my eye, I see this bag:

I look at the ingredients because most times with the frozen diced potatoes, they are already covered in oil and the macros are terrible.

BUT these were not. It was literally just potatoes, peppers, and onions.

So not only was this macro friendly BUT also convenient as hell because dicing up potatoes, peppers and onions that small would be annoying.

So I snagged a bag.

And MAN am I glad I did. The meal I created with these was unreal.

And the macros are immaculate 🤌🏻

635 Cals, 63g Carbs, 17g Fat, 61g Protein

Let me show you how.

Just like my “Easiest Fries Ever” recipe, I just throw the potatoes into the air fryer raw dog (aka just the potatoes, no oil, no seasoning, nothing).

I put about 350g into the air fryer.

I air fry them at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, mixing them around every 5-7 minutes to make sure they cook evenly.

And then once golden, I add them to a bowl, spray them with avocado or olive oil, and toss.

Then I add my sea salt and garlic powder and toss some more.

These will be the base of the meal.

I then added some chopped cheese, ground chicken on top, along with salsa, sriracha, pickled red onions/jalapenos, and avocado.

MY GOODNESS was this meal amazing.

So wanted to share this because potatoes are extremely underrated as a high-volume/macro-friendly carb source.

And this meal was incredible with them.

If you don’t have an HEB, I think there will be something similar at your grocery store.

The concept is the same.

Let me know when you give it a try!

---

Just want to leave you with this framework.

Hard things are hard, that’s why they’re hard.

Learning to cook macro friendly is 'hard' until it isn’t.

Most will quit and then complain about missing their favorite foods while dieting.

But over that hill of hard is a lifetime of food freedom.

Keep going!

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach

​

P.S. I ordered 7 fast food meals from the most popular restaurants and it cost me $91...

So I recreated every single one of them into a delicious high protein low calorie form and it only cost me $26.

​Click here to watch how I did it.​

​

​

​