Hey Reader!

In the 39th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Crispy Taco Pockets and Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream!
• The surprising start of the Michelin Star (not made by food critics)...
• Why you need salt (and why it's poorly shown by the media)...
• How to track your macros without the nutritional facts...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Crispy Taco Pockets Being able to make a crunch wrap with half a tortilla thus keeping the calories much lower! These taco pockets for example are only 121 calories with 12.5g protein! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​Crispy Taco Pockets.pdf​

Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream This one is for all my basic B’s out there! Literally a pumpkin pie in ice cream form for only 290 calories with 38g protein! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

Tis the BASIC season! Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream is making waves!

Macros (for the whole pint):
​290 calories, 30g of carbs, 38g of protein

Here's the recipe:
👉 Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream.pdf​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

The hook of this song has been stuck in my head all week 😅 ​Chappell Roan - Adventure Club​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

“Hi sir, I’ll just leave your bill here.”

Me: “Ok, thank you!”

*Looks down at the bill for two people.

$963 lol. And I still have to pay the tip 🤣

And it’s not like we went crazy.

Just a steak, a side, an appetizer, and each a glass of wine.

So why was this place so expensive?

One reason...

And only one reason.

The Michelin Star.

Not just one or two stars.

But three.

The holy grail of culinary achievements that can make or break a high-end restaurant.

And with such prestige, you’d think this was created by the top chefs, critics, or anyone remotely involved in food.

NOPE haha. This story is wild.

It all started in the year 1900…

Back then, the Michelin brothers, André and Édouard, were looking for a way to boost the sale of their new-fangled rubber tires.

And hey, they were pretty clever dudes—they knew that the more people drove, the more tires they’d eventually need. But here’s the catch: cars were still super new and people weren’t driving much. So the brothers whipped up a genius plan—a travel guide.

And not just any guide, but a free one that was packed with maps, gas stations, tire repair tips (and yes) recommendations for places to eat.

Think Yelp wayyyyyy before Yelp.

At first, the Michelin Guide was pretty basic.

It was like, “Hey, here’s where you can get a bite to eat while you’re out and about.”

But as the guide grew, so did its ambitions.

By the 1920s, they started to take this whole food review thing seriously, sending undercover inspectors to rate restaurants.

They didn’t just focus on the fanciest spots either—they were all about quality.

If it was delicious, it made the list.

And then, in 1926, they added a little star next to the best spots.

That one little star was the beginning of what would become a full-blown status symbol in the culinary world.

By 1936, the rating system we know today was officially born:

Here’s the wild part: Michelin’s rating system became so legit that it didn’t just influence where people ate—it influenced how chefs cooked.

A star could launch a chef’s career or drive an entire city’s food scene.

And a star lost could be their downfall.

It pushed chefs to elevate their game, innovate, and turn dining into an art form.

A company that just wanted to sell more tires accidentally became one of the most powerful tastemakers in the food industry.

The Michelin Guide has grown way beyond Europe, and today you can find Michelin-rated restaurants from New York to Tokyo, and everywhere in between.

But at its core, it’s still all about getting people to hit the road (and hit up some mind-blowing food while they’re at it).

So next time you hear about a restaurant bragging about its Michelin stars, just remember...

You’ve got a French tire company to thank for that five-course meal you’ve just spent over $1,000 for lol.

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: It’s funny how salt is having its moment right now.

Not with how it’s used in recipes.

But with every company on planet Earth creating electrolyte/hydration drinks/packets.

I can’t hate because I do use them every single day BUT it’s funny to see this trend in full swing 🤣

But anyways, back to the topic at hand.

Salt really is a game-changer for sweet recipes

Why?

One very important reason:

Salt = Flavor Booster

Salt is like magic dust for your taste buds.

You add it to food, and BAM, everything just tastes better.

But why? Here’s the science-y part (but I promise it’s cool): Salt doesn’t just make food salty; it actually enhances the other flavors in your dish. Sweet tastes sweeter, savory tastes deeper, and spices get that extra punch. Which is why it shows up in everything from brownies to cookies to cakes to ice cream.

It’s that little something that turns a “good” recipe into a “holy sh*t, this SLAP-A-LAPS!"

It’s like turning up the volume on your food.

Without it, everything is kinda… meh.

Salt wakes up your taste buds and makes everything come alive.

But I know what you're wondering...

Isn’t salt bad for you?

Salt’s gotten a bad rap over the years.

We’ve all heard it—“Too much salt is bad for your heart!”

Yes, if you’re throwing back salt like it’s candy or chugging soy sauce (if so you have bigger mental problems to deal with), that’s not great.

But if you’re like most of us and eating a balanced diet, salt is actually your friend, not the enemy.

Your body NEEDS sodium—it’s essential for nerve function, muscle contractions, and maintaining proper fluid balance.

Think of it as your body’s electrical charge.

No sodium = no charge = no bueno.

So why shouldn’t you be scared of salt?

For starters, the real villain isn’t the salt you add when cooking—it’s all that hidden sodium in processed foods and fast food.

They are SODIUM NUCLEAR BOMBS.

That’s where people go overboard.

When you cook at home, you’re in control.

You know exactly how much you’re adding, and trust me, a little bit of salt in your home-cooked meal isn’t going to derail your health goals.

Plus, if you’re sweating it out at the gym, you’re losing sodium anyways, so it all balances out.

Bottom line...

Salt makes everything taste better—simple as that.

So the next time you’re cooking and you’re wondering why your food tastes kinda flat, ask yourself: did you add salt?

If not, it’s time to season like a pro and let those flavors shine.

And if you’re worried about sodium, just keep doing what you’re doing: eat mostly whole foods, stay hydrated, and enjoy your food without stressing over every grain of salt.

Your taste buds (and your body) will thank you.

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Serving Surprise 😮

I was in Miami this past weekend for the Jaguar's first game of the season.

Bittersweet because they played really well overall but literally gave the game away in the second half 😭 Jags being the Jags.

But what I want this week's serving surprise to be is how I'd track a meal without nutritional info online.

I haven't walked you guys through this process in a while and it can be tricky.

So was at the pool and wanted some lunch.

A sandwich and some fries.

I know that burgers (as we have discussed) from restaurants are usually 75/25 or 80/20 lean ground beef aka pretty calorically dense and just heavy in general.

They didn't have any good chicken sandwich options on the menu so I found the next best option that would be delicious and not a caloric bomb.

That choice was a blackened white fish sandwich which is a great option no matter where you are eating out.

These white fish options are usually super low in fat and mostly protein.

They are blackened in some cooking oil but nothing crazy.

So the Blackened Mahi Mahi Sandwich with a side of fries was the play.

It came with the standard lettuce, tomato, red onion (and I asked for pickles lol).

Along with a garlic aioli sauce.

Pro tip: Always ask for the sauce on the side so that you can add however much you want.

It's really hard to gauge how much is on there when it's just added on there.

And the sauce (especially an aioli) can add a good chunk of calories.

BUT my plan didn't go as planned.

They brought out my food and the aioli was indeed, not on the side lol.

So did I send it back?

Nope. The old me would've.

And caveat here. If you have fat loss goals and need to be super precise, I honestly think sending it back is the right move.

But for me, fat loss is secondary and not that big of a deal for me.

So I just ate it.

It's all about nutritional perspective matching your goals. It wasn't a big deal to me.

Anyways, how did I track this meal?

I need to find a similar meal from a reputable restaurant that has the nutritional info for that meal online.

So literally just Google'd, “Blackened Mahi Mahi Sandwich” and found that Miller's Ale House has one that is very similar:

Then I tapped on the nutritional info pdf and found the macros for just the sandwich were:

450 Calories, 8g Fat, 46g Carbs, 49g Protein.

And this doesn't come with a garlic aioli so we are going to add that to the macros.

I tried to find something similar on their menu but nothing came up so I have to find an aioli somewhere else to add to the macros.

I found that Hellmann's makes a garlic aioli so we are just going to use that.

Per 1 Tbsp (14g), it's 70 Calories, 7g Fat, 0g Carbs, 0g Protein.

And I'd guess about 2 Tbsp was used on this sandwich so that means 140 calories and 14g fat added to the sandwich macros.

So now we are sitting at a total for the sandwich of:

590 Calories, 22g Fat, 46g Carbs, 49g Protein.

So now for the fries. They were INSANELY MID so I didn't eat that many of them but we'll still go through the process of figuring out what it would be if I ate all of them.

Side note that I think is important to cover: I used to always have to finish my whole plate in front of me no matter what. Now I can just leave food and be ok with it. A big win for someone who couldn't get up from the table growing up unless I finished my plate.

So back to the fries. Same process as above. Let's just use Miller's Ale House again.

Actually scratch that. This is a great example of having a great nutritional understanding of macros of foods to spot mistakes. This says 46g fat and only 12g carbs for the fries.

So we are just going to pull from the GOAT's nutritional info aka Chile's haha.

A side of fries from there is: ​
​410 Calories, 17g Fat, 60g Carbs, 5g Protein.

So IF these fries were BUSSIN and I did indeed eat them all, the full macros for this meal would've been:

1000 Calories, 39g Fat, 106g Carbs, 54g Protein.

AND that's just getting a fish sandwich which is on the lower cal of things.

AND to be honest, when tracking eating out IF your goal is fat loss, you want to add an extra 10%-20% to the calories via carbs and fats just in case.

So with this meal, you'd want to add an extra 150 calories to the total aka an extra 8g fat and 18g carbs.

The key thing here is, once you've tracked a meal like this, you have this in your back pocket for whenever you are in this situation again.

Hope this wasn't too complicated and made a lot of sense.

Nor do I want this to feel like it has to be tracked to this amount of detail.

Being aware is what is going to give you 95% of the benefit.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!

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And that’s a wrap!

This past Friday (the 13th) was my 33rd Birthday. Crazy to say I am 33 years old lol.

I KNOW it’s not old and I sure as hell don’t feel old but it’s weird to be that old.

If that makes any sense at all 🤣

Anyways, my 30s have been the best years of my life thus far and I just wanted to say thank you again for being here.

It means the world to have a community like this. You guys challenge me.

Excited to see what we can accomplish together this year!

Your friend,
​Zach

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