One of the best parts of my life right now is being a mom to a beautiful five-month-old little boy.  Logan brings me such joy.  All I have to do is look at him and my heart just melts. 

I think I can actually see him growing right before my eyes.  It’s absolutely amazing!  I am trying so hard to remember to enjoy each stage and not wish for the next one – where I will get more sleep, where he will say “mommy”, when we will be done with diapers, or whatever. 

Earlier this week Logan and I were having some mommy-and-me time before I tucked him into bed for the night.  I was watching him in his footed pajamas as he worked to get his little toes to his little mouth.  Of course I couldn’t help but think that my child is an absolute genius for accomplishing this developmental milestone.  Ah the rose-colored glasses of motherhood! 

A few minutes latter, when Logan got bored with playing with his toes and he began trying to eat my fingers instead of his own toes, I made a shocking discovery.  My baby boy (who is just barely five-months old!) has not one but two teeth coming in!!!!  I hear myself say for the first time a phrase I will no doubt repeat at least thousand more times over the next twenty years, “You are growing up too fast – stop that!”.  

Ugh!  Did I just sound like my mother just then?!?  Double ugh!!  Logan responded by sticking out his tongue out (his other new skill) and bursting into laughter.  So, not only do I sound like my mother, my child is mocking me already – LOVELY!

I know this is all part of growing up but for some reason the teeth thing really gets to me.  I love my baby’s gummy little smile and his bald little head.  I need just a little more time before my little baby grows up!  (sigh) 

I decided last night that I was in need of some comfort food for dinner to help me cope with my child’s race to grow up.  As I peered into my fridge for divine inspiration I remembered an article I read on MarieClare.com about 10 foods that are supposed to reduce stress.  Perfect! 

After some digging through my fridge and pantry I determine I had four of the ten foods listed – oranges, sweet potatoes, walnuts and spinach.  Since I was feeling particularly prone to drama I decided I clearly need to eat all four for dinner so as to get the maximum stress reduction possible for the evening!

So here is the meal I came up with from my available ingredients.  Since I was out of salmon (which was one of those stress-reducing foods on the list) I decided to sub in some shrimp as my protein.  Shrimp, like salmon, also has Omega 3 fatty acids that, according the Marie Clare article, “keep the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline from peaking“.  So even though shrimp had a smaller amount of Omega 3’s than salmon, it had the advantage of being in my freezer (in the form of a carton of SeaPak Shrimp Scampi) making the shrimp an excellent substitution for salmon in my opinion.    I used the shrimp scampi to make a super easy Shrimp Stuffed Sweet Potato.  Then for a side dish I made a quick Spinach Salad. 

Since no comfort-food dinner would be complete without dessert, I had to tack on the tried-and-true comfort food at the end: chocolate!  (Seriously, how did that not make the list??) My chocolate was in the form of a Chocolate Stuffed Baked Banana.  Now, I don’t know if it was all those stress-reducing foods or just the fact my meal was so very tasty but I am happy to report that my stress level was much reduced post dinner. 

So, that was my stress reduction meal last night. I am curious to know what foods other people grab when they are feeling stressed.  Do you go for healthy stress-reducing food options like seafood, spinach and walnuts?  Or do you go for more traditional comfort foods like chocolate, mac and cheese and ice cream?  What works best for you?

RECIPES:

Shrimp Stuffed Sweet Potatoes – Prick 2 sweet potatoes with a fork and cook in the microwave.  Sauté SeaPak Shrimp Scampi in a skillet.  When potatoes and shrimp are fully cooked, scoop out the potato middles (leaving the potato skins in tact.  Stir scooped-out potato into the shrimp scampi, being sure you get all that great scampi garlic butter mixed in.  Then scoop the potato mixture back into the potato skins and serve.

Jenna’s Spinach Salad – Place fresh baby spinach leaves in a bowl.  Add a small can of drained mandarin orange slices, a handful of rough chopped walnuts and sprinkle of feta cheese.  In a small bowl whisk together the juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons), 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 teaspoon olive oil, a dash of garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper.   Pour the dressing over the spinach salad and toss.

Chocolate Stuffed Baked Banana – Take a banana with the skin still on and slice on the inside of the curve.  Your cut should go 2/3’s of the way through the banana but not all the way through.  Take a chocolate bar, break into pieces and stuff into banana.  Wrap banana in tinfoil and place in a baking dish.  Position the banana so cut side with chocolate is facing straight up.  Bake in 350º oven for 20-25 minutes until chocolate is melted and banana is baked through and soft.