Starting Off the Week + Protein Carrot Cake Donuts
- Jun 23
- 6 min read
Monday
Monday was off to a rough start - Arthur woke up at 7:30! I think it may have been partly because his parents were making a bit of noise at that point; I’m hoping this isn’t his new norm. That being said, he did go down really quickly the previous night, so maybe he’s completely back to his regular routine.
After his first susu breakfast, Arthur finished off the rest of the Cheerios I had brought back from California. Luckily, I was able to find a place that sells them online, so I ordered a box for the little addict so he doesn’t have to lose his supply. He also drank quite a bit of water from his cup; I heard some very distinct swallows, so a reasonable amount actually ended up in him rather than just on him.
We did a morning run to Albert Heijn, before the heat got too miserable, then returned home for more nursing and a nap, though I wish he had napped for longer. Arthur was in a pretty good mood for the rest of the morning, though, up through his afternoon snack. Since he’d finished off the foods he’d been working on for the past several days, the lucky duck got something different: scrambled egg! This particular egg was scrambled with the leftover crumbs of Cheerios that were too small for finger food, along with puréed spinach and yellow bell pepper, paprika, onion powder, and turmeric, and cooked in a mixture of garlic-infused olive oil and ghee. The verdict? Arthur still likes egg. He devoured the entire thing, and still seemed hungry, so I gave him a few slices of raw extra firm tofu, which he was equally enthusiastic about.
The little guy was pretty tired by that point; in fact, he had been rubbing his eyes pretty much since his last nap. So I was very happy when he fell asleep on me during his 3:00 nursing session, and this time, for a nice long nap.
And honestly, Arthur was very sweet for the rest of the afternoon and evening, pretty content as I left him to his own devices on the rug and in the play pen, as long as I was nearby. I was very grateful for that, especially because Miklós was working until late. Other evening activities included trimming the mullet-y chunks of his hair in the back (there were some bits quite a bit longer than others for some reason, so I evened them out) and weighing him (again, not sure how reliable our scale is, but it declared him to be 8.6kg, which is a jump from the 24th to 26th percentile - go, Arthur!)
Arthur’s dinner consisted of a lot more tofu. To mix it up, however, and to add a source of vitamin C to help him absorb the iron, I also gave him some spoonfuls of a new baby food purée. This one, which I had brought back from Hungary, contained apple, banana, coconut milk, and pineapple. I mixed some formula powder into it, as I’m trying to get through the container. He seemed happy enough with the purée, although I think the tofu was a bigger hit. I think part of the appeal to it is that he can feed it to himself.
It was a bit of a late night for Arthur, too, as he was waiting for his pops.But despite the late bedtime, he was pretty good about going to sleep - he stayed peacefully in his crib looking at Miklós, babbling at him for a while (I guess he missed his papa and had a lot to tell him about his day!), and then eventually drifting off to sleep, so we really couldn’t complain about him at all today.
Anyways, Arthur started off the week eating:
egg
spinach
yellow bell pepper
spices: onion powder, paprika, turmeric
garlic-infused olive oil
ghee
tofu
apple
banana
coconut milk
pineapple (new food!)
formula powder (milk)
Tuesday
Arthur synced with his mama on Tuesday; scarcely had I sat down on the toilet at 7:30 when I heard wailing from his room. He was actually sitting up in his crib when I ran in, despite wearing his sleep sack. The poor dude had an incredibly full and stinky diaper, but he was not in the mood for a diaper change; setting him down on the changing mat elicited screams, hip thrusts, and foot kicking - a full-on tantrum that made it rather challenging to change his diaper. Actually, he’s been pretty grumpy about diaper changes the last couple of days in general; I hope he starts tolerating them better again soon.
Arthur was in a much better mood after his susu breakfast, and was alright on the various rugs upstairs while I got dressed. He did another massive and stinky poop, and was moderately less fussy while I changed him, though he still grabbed his wiener angrily, really showing me. Then he had a second breakfast while I worked on preparing some food in the kitchen: more tofu and the coconut fruit purée. He wasn’t terribly hungry, but ate a couple of tofu sticks and a few spoonfuls of the purée.
After a run to Lidl, Arthur was getting pretty tired and fussy. He felt pretty hot to me, too, but his temperature was only 37.4 degrees, so I guess he doesn’t have a real fever. It’s probably just the heat. Anyways, a very long nap at his 10:30 nursing session helped with his sleepiness, if not the temperature.
We spent some time on the rug upstairs, and I swear, Arthur crawled a couple of steps (or do you call them steps when they’re on hands and knees?)! He moved towards me two paces, using both his arms and legs. But he didn’t seem motivated to move further. I think he’s very capable of crawling, but doesn’t really have the desire to move around. I’ll have to figure out some way to incentivize him.
Arthur’s afternoon snack was a repeat of his morning one, although on this occasion I mixed both formula powder and almond meal into the purée. And this time, he seemed more into the purée than the tofu, which was interesting. Maybe it was added ingredients?
As has been his habit lately, Arthur took a good long nap when I nursed him at 3:00. Afterwards, he was in fairly good spirits on the rugs upstairs and in the play pen. While he may not be very motivated to crawl forward, lately he’s really been crawling up onto his parents. He really wants to be on top of us, and it’s pretty cute. He’s also starting to raise his arms when he wants me to pick him up - communication for the win!
For Arthur’s dinner, he finished off the remainder of the fruit purée, mixed with leftover chunks of tofu and some formula powder. He wolfed the whole thing down, so I gave him a treat - some cream of wheat! I had ordered some from an "expat shop" along with the Cheerios, and prepared this portion with yellow bell pepper purée, cinnamon, peanut butter, and tahini. Arthur was very enthusiastic about it, and absolutely wolfed it down!
Aaand that means that on Tuesday, Arthur ate:
tofu
apple
banana
coconut milk
pineapple
formula powder (milk)
almond meal
As for the adults? Monday was a ready-made meal for us, and Tuesday I made our favorite bean salad, which I've already posted. So today's recipe is going to be for these protein carrot cake donuts that I made a while back. I got the idea from this Instagram post, tweaked the ingredients a bit based on what I had on hand, and opted to bake them as donuts instead of a loaf. They were even tastier than I expected, and I certainly wouldn't mind making them again! I didn't frost these, as I didn't feel they needed anything, but I'm sure they'd be tasty with a frosting or glaze as well. Here's how I made them:
Protein Carrot Cake Baked Donuts (makes 7 donuts)
Ingredients
40g vanilla whey protein
1 tbsp granular sweetener + 3 squirts sucralose
2 tbs coconut flour
¼ tsp baking soda
dash salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
sprinkle turmeric
150g shredded carrots
2 tbs peanut butter (I used chunky)
1 apple-peach-sweet potato purée baby food packet, or equivalent in applesauce or another fruit purée (90g)
2 eggs
2 tbs slivered almonds (or other chopped nut)
2 tbs shredded coconut
Instructions
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Whisk together all the cake ingredients (including shredded carrot).
Add ingredients to a donut tray (I got 7 donuts from this).
Bake for 25-35 mins, or until fork comes out clean.
Enjoy warm or cold (I actually liked them more after they'd been sitting in the fridge for a while).
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