Hey Reader!

In the 82nd issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Bang Bang Popcorn Shrimp and Soft & Chewy Protein Chocolate Chip Cookies!
• What I eat for breakfast nearly every day (and how to make it to perfection)...
• How to make my recipes if you're lactose intolerant...
• One of the most calorie-dense foods (and my perfect substitute for it)...​

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Bang Bang Popcorn Shrimp We can all get behind some popcorn shrimp. It's a great snack or side for a meal. If you're not about that life, you can choose to leave out the bang bang 😆 Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Bang Bang Popcorn Shrimp.pdf​

Soft & Chewy Protein Chocolate Chip Cookies If you love Soft & Chewy Chips Ahoy Cookies, these will save your life! Only 53 calories with 5.5g protein per cookie! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Soft & Chewy Protein Chocolate Chip Cookies.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

🧀🔥 487 Cal One Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

Macros for the WHOLE Bowl:​
487 Cals, 52g Carbs, 11g Fat, 45g Protein

Here's the recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cky8DllvVmN/​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

​Hey Julie! - KYLE​

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This Week’s Flavor 🎥

Need a new breakfast idea? Protein oatmeal is here to save you. Easy to make, easy to meal prep, and tastes amazing. Only 400 calories for the whole bowl and nearly 40g of protein! ​Click here to watch the video.​

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: Ok so I have a confession.

Have never really talked about this much before.

I am lactose intolerant.

And have been since I was born.

MAN I wish I wasn’t (because it is annoying) but it’s the reality.

So how do I still eat dairy while being lactose intolerant?
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Step 1: Understanding Lactose

If you are lactose intolerant, lactose is your kryptonite.

Here’s the boring but insightful definition of this process:

Lactose intolerance occurs when the body is unable to properly digest lactose, a sugar found in milk and dairy products. This happens because the small intestine doesn't produce enough of an enzyme called lactase, which is necessary to break down lactose into two simpler sugars, glucose and galactose, that can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

So are we fu*ked to never consume dairy ever again?

Not exactly. Actually not at all.

Step 2: Understanding Lactase

What makes us lactose intolerant is not producing lactase.

And maybe you were not born lactose intolerant but became it over time.

How?

This usually happens to most of us if we have had long bouts of no high lactose dairy foods thus our body doesn’t feel the need to produce the lactase enzyme anymore.

And when I say long bouts, it can be as short as 3-6 months.
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Step 3: Call the Lactase Reinforcements

Have you ever wondered how milk products like Fairlife can be lactose-free?

It’s not that they are taking the lactose out of the milk.

It’s that they are adding the lactase enzyme into the milk, in the perfect amount, to match the amount of lactose.

So then the lactose can be digested because the lactate is there to do so.

And thus it is “lactose-free.”

You can do this with lactate enzyme supplementation when eating high-lactose dairy as well.

This is a bit trickier just because of the timing and how much to actually supplement with in order to match the amount of lactose in the food/meal.

Here’s a chart I made many many years ago for myself to help me know how much lactase is in certain foods.

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All you need to know from this is some dairy is lower lactose while others are higher.

So then you can be aware of how to supplement or that you should just stay away from the higher lactose dairy.
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Step 4: The Lactose-Free Game Plan

Now to finally answer your question.

There is a movement to create more and more lactose-free products.

Here are three I use all the time:

So when I have a recipe that calls for Greek yogurt, I’d say first try and use the lactose-free options.

Because the dairy-free options taste awful (the texture is runny and the macros are even worse).

Hope this helps!

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Serving Surprise 😮

If there is any food that is the epitome of serving sizes being DEPRESSING, it's peanut butter.

I love me some PB but the serving size is TINY.

That's why I am a big fan of using a food scale.

It doesn't care about your feelings or how hungry you are lol.

It just tells you the grams and you have to deal with how depressing that is 😭

Some foods give you a lot of food volume.

A LOT do not (and peanut butter is one of those).

BUT I am here to be of service! I love me some PB so I am going to give you a protein peanut butter recipe that's only 60 calories per 2 TBSP!

It's super easy to make and here's how you do.

1. Add to a bowl:
   1. 45g Vanilla Whey/Casein Blend Protein Powder
   2. 30g Powdered Peanut Butter
   3. 3g-5g (depends on how sweet you want it) Zero-Cal Sweetener
   4. Pinch of Sea Salt
2. Then slowly add a little bit of cold water and mix.
3. Repeat this process till you have your desired consistency!

Since your protein powder does makeup over half of this recipe, a high-quality one is a MUST if you want this to taste amazing.

Highly suggest checking out Flex Brands (aka the company I created to make the best protein powders for recipes in the world).

Discount code “FDL” will save you 15%

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First week back from vacation and man was it nice to cook again!

One framework I have when traveling is that I don’t eat for satiety.

I eat till satisfied. If I eat till I am full, I overeat.

But at home, I can make my magic and feel full on less calories.

My go to lunch lately has been this Buffalo Loaded Fries Bowl 🔥

Hope you are enjoying this fun game we get to play in our kitchens with the simple rules of “solving cravings, eating a ton of food and reaching our goals.”

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach

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