Hey Reader!

In the 84th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my The Asian Crunch Salad and Protein Cookie Dough Jello Snack Bowls!
• 33 recipes to make a boring high protein food insanely delicious...
• Change recipe flavors with ease using this method...
• Gordon Ramsay has frozen meals? My review...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

The Asian Crunch Salad There is nothing like a big low calorie salad that tastes amazing! You’ll want to put this low cal sesame vinaigrette on everything! P.S. If you want this for meal prep, keep the vinaigrette on the side! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​The Asian Crunch Salad.pdf​

Protein Cookie Dough Jello Snack Bowls If you're looking for a snack that has better macros than a protein bar with 3 times the volume, this is IT! I’m telling you this combo will surprise you with how good it is! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Protein Cookie Dough Jello Snack Bowls.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

🍕 Pepperoni Pizza Pockets

Macros for each Pizza Pocket:
​102 Cals, 8g Carbs, 4g Fat, 8.5g Protein

Here's the recipe:
👉 ​​https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ToKgcRTZT/​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

​Cash - Fabian Mazur​

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This Week’s Flavor 🎥

Chicken doesn't need to be boring! To prove it, I made a video covering 33 different recipes that make chicken insanely delicious (and not white boy bland). ​Click here to watch the video.​

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: Let’s go! Love to hear that.

The tweaking phase is the best.

You are starting to see patterns (a method to the macro magic) and are making them your own! Keep me updated!

To answer your question, let me do my best to take you behind the scenes of my own recipe “tweaking” process!

This process starts with first an idea for a brand-new recipe concept.

Then it’s researching the higher calorie version of that recipe.

Next is coming up with a recipe hypothesis to substitute certain ingredients in order to make it lower calorie/higher protein.

Then it’s testing that recipe hypothesis.

Usually, this involves at least 4-5 different tests and tweaks to fine-tune it.

Sometimes this process will take a couple of days.

And a lot of times, it takes weeks.

But once it’s reached that level of delicious & macro-friendly, we have a brand new base recipe!

So now the next step is to think of different flavor profiles that would make sense for this recipe.

I am going to use my Ramen recipes as an example.

These are in my top 5 most popular recipes of all time.

The first base recipe I made for this was my Beef & Broccoli Ramen.

From the flat iron steak marinade, to the stir fry sauce, to the charred broccoli, and to all the other details, this highlights an interesting point of how I want you to see my recipes.

I want you to see each recipe as layers of interchangeable components instead of just an end-all, be-all recipe.

You can take how I marinated and cooked the beef and apply it to another recipe.

You can take the stir-fry sauce and apply it to another recipe.

And so on and so on with any other wrinkle you find in the recipe.

So if you look at any of my other ramen recipes, you will see some common themes of the base recipe.

But you will also see many different new layers to customize an all-new flavor profile/experience.

I’ll link my other favorite ramen recipes to give a try!

I HIGHLY recommend giving them a try. You’ll be impressed with yourself!

Beef & Broccoli Ramen

Here's the recipe and video:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/CmMoxvzOVs4/​

Sticky Honey Sriracha Ramen

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

Egg Roll in a Bowl Ramen

Here's the recipe and video:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpvIbqEJG9D/​

Chicken Birria Ramen

Here's the recipe and video:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvKvg_Sr09Q/​

Orange Chicken Ramen

Here's the recipe and video:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cw244Cbuks4/​

Gochujang Ramen

Here's the recipe and video:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C90BuiVOkqu/​

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Serving Surprise 😮

You know how YouTube recommends different videos?

Well one of mine recently was:

So I dove into the world of his new frozen meals myself.

Because Gordon Ramsay is someone I have studied a TON I was confused by these meals he created.

A frozen meals product seems counter to what he is all about but I wanted to see how they were for myself.

They are definitely not cheap a $5.94 a piece 😅

I got all 8 that they had in stock for $46.52.

Macros on these are terrible btw lol.

Chicken Pot Pie

Macros: ​
460 Cals, 52g Carbs, 20g Fat, 19g Protein

Reminds me of a slimy chicken noodle soup but with rubbery pieces of chicken.

The crust is stale and definitely not flaky.

I wouldn’t eat that ever again (even if you paid me lol).
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Slow Roasted Beef in a Red Wine Sauce

Macros: ​
340 Cals, 25g Carbs, 18g Fat, 15g Protein

It’s really not “bad” per se. It’s just boring and kinda devoid of flavor.

Nothing about it I despise but nothing about it I really like.
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Fish & Chips

Macros: ​
470 Cals, 54g Carbs, 18g Fat, 20g Protein

Fish nuggets were OK. A bit weird of a texture because a lot had a little bit left of the skin they didn’t get off.

Fries very bland. I didn’t salt them because I assume this is a ready-to-eat meal.
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Mac & Cheese

Macros: ​
530 Cals, 53g Carbs, 24g Fat, 27g Protein

I mean it’s Mac & Cheese but like everything else thus far just is “meh” in flavor and texture.

Most definitely not creamy. It's got a ricotta texture to it.
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Lemon Caper Chicken

Macros: ​
340 Cals, 27g Carbs, 15g Fat, 21g Protein

That chicken felt scary to eat. It still looked undercooked when coming out but I braved it and took a bit.

Actually wasn’t terrible but come on now, that can’t be the gauge for success lol.

And the lemon sauce was super slimy (which I did not like at all). The roasted potatoes and broccoli I did like.
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Lasagna with Bolognese Meat Sauce

Macros: ​
500 Cals, 65g Carbs, 19g Fat, 25g Protein

I did actually like this one. It tasted like a normal lasagna.

I’d say this is my favorite thus far.

And by favorite I mean a 6.5/10.
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Risotto

Macros: ​
320 Cals, 47g Carbs, 9g Fat, 11g Protein

The risotto was ok. It was very much so risotto. The texture was a bit off but I can’t say it was way off.

All in all, I feel the same about this one as I did the lasagna.
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Shepherd’s Pie:

Macros: ​
490 Cals, 27g Carbs, 32g Fat, 23g Protein

Not a big fan of this one at all. Ended up just being a slop.

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My poor place smells like a dollar general version of a Gordon Ramsay restaurant now 😭

All this screams is the age-old phrase, “Don’t meet your heroes.”

It’s blatantly obvious he had no part in making these meals even though they were going to have his face on them.

I just don’t understand how this product line could ever come to reality.

It’s either you are saying the person who would buy this has a terrible gauge of quality food or just doesn’t give AF and it’s a money grab.

Sad to see.

Trust me, this pains me to put out a review like this.

But have to keep it real no matter if it's someone who I have looked up to for a very very long time.

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Here’s an obvious but not so obvious stat I want to leave you with.

Every week is 2% of the year.

When I first hear this, my brain goes, “well duh.”

But then it sets in that, “damn that’s a lot of the year.”

Weeks fly by and I don’t even notice.

So this is just a reminder to myself and maybe a helpful reminder to you that time will fly by if we let it.

How do I plan to slow down time?

I know when I challenge myself outside of my comfort zone, time tends to stand still.

I am more present than ever.

The irony that:
Hard = more present = you slow down time.

Just a random thought I wanted to share haha.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far in the email.

Means the world to have your support.

Sending you all the good vibes for an amazing week.

Get after it!

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach

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