This past weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Kim. Kim and her husband, Doug, just adopted Zachary, a precious baby boy. So this shower was what we in the South call, a Sip-and-See Shower, where you come by, sip some lovely beverages, see the new baby, and shower the new family with love. It was all totally delightful.

Now all baby showers require five basics elements from the hosts – fabulous finger food, some pastel-colored punch (usually made with sherbet and ginger ale), a few cutesy baby-themed decorations, a creative baby game or two, and adequate seating. As the recipe director for SeaPak guess which element I am usually assigned? You guessed it – food!

Now in the past I have pulled out all the stops cooking for showers, coming up with all sorts of creative hors d’oeuvres to tempt my friends’ taste buds. This time however there was one big difference. I myself am a new mom to a beautiful five-month-old baby boy.

As all you moms out there know, my prep and cooking time for any occasion just got cut down to about thirty minutes at best – or the amount of time Logan will sit and happily entertain himself in the bouncy seat while I cook.

Kim is a very special friend, so I really wanted to make something especially delicious to bring to her shower. So the question was how to achieve Martha Stewart perfection on a Rachel Ray time schedule? (Oh the self-imposed pressure to impress!)

What did I come up with? Mini Crab Quiches! Nothing says brunch like an egg dish and nothing more quickly makes a dish gourmet than adding some seafood to the mix.

This nearly-homemade recipe took me about six minutes to assemble and 13 minutes to bake. I even had time to clean up the dishes before Logan got bored! Martha Stewart had nothing on me this weekend! As for the mini crab quiches, they were a total hit at the shower – not a one left over!

So, mini crab cake quiches are definitely going to be one of my go-to recipes when I need to bring an appetizer to share but have no time to cook. What your quick-and-easy dishes do you pull out when you need to whip up some finger foods in a hurry and still want to impress the masses?

Mini Crab Cake Quiches

• 1 package SeaPak® Maryland Style Crab Cakes, thawed
• 45 mini phyllo cups
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• Dash nutmeg
• Cracked black pepper

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees.

WHISK together eggs, cream, garlic salt, nutmeg and black pepper.

PLACE phyllo cups on a baking sheet. Crumble crab cakes into phyllo cups. Spoon egg mixture into phyllo cups (about 1 tablespoon per cup). Sprinkle cheese over each egg mixture.

BAKE 13 minutes or until fully cooked.

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.

Heading into last weekend getting together with friends was at the top of my to-do-list.  It only took four phone calls, a smattering of emails and a few text messages to reach a group decision – 8 of us would meet up for dinner out at a favorite restaurant.   Ah, dinner out with friends lovely!  What could be easier right?

Well the meal was great and the drinks and the dessert too. There was lots of laughter and chatter after a long work week.  It all seemed so fun and carefree until that dreaded part of the night when the waiter came and plopped that daunting group check on the table (no separate checks at this restaurant because that would just make everything too easy on the guests).  Ugh!   Ummm…..did anyone of bring a calculator??  No?  Ok so let the round of pass the check begin.  Let’s see we started with drinks but some people ordered cocktails, some people shared a bottle of wine and one person just had a diet soda.  Then there was the appetizers that two people order but 2/3’s of the group nibbled on, followed by meals that varied in price from the house salad to the house specialty of the night.  And for the end of the evening 3 people ordered desserts (which most people at least got a fork into), 2 people ordered coffee and 4 people ordered after dinner drinks.    Holy cow….are you sure no one brought a calculator to figure all this out??  At first you always consider just dividing the bill evenly but there is always one couple who order twice and many drinks and appetizers and desserts as everyone else and one person who order only a soda and salad.  It just never really works out fairly.  So then begins the passing around of the check to try to figure out how much everyone owes.  This can take as long as the meal and inevitably we always seem to get stuck throwing in extra to make sure the waiter doesn’t get stiffed because someone can’t add up their part correctly.

Does my evening sound familiar to anyone else?  Well, I think I am over the group restuarant meal thing for a while.   For the next group get together I am going to simplify and just invite everyone over to my house for dinner.  I know what you are thinking “But wait who can afford to feed all these people and who has the time to cook?!?”.    Well here is where I am going to get savvy and suggest a pot luck.  As the host I will make the entree.  If I go the semi-homemade route I can make an entree in way less time than it takes to drive to the restaurant let alone get seated and served.  Then I will just ask each couple brings a dish and a beverage.  (I guarantee you I am going to get out cheaper making an entree to share than I did last Saturday night paying for a 3 course meal at the restaurant!)  I am thinking I am going to make one of my signature dishes – Crab Alfredo Over Pasta.  Talk about EASY!  I start with SeaPak Maryland Style Crab Cakes and pre-made Alfredo sauce.  The seasonings in the crab cakes really add some nice  flavoring to the pre-made sauce to make it taste more homemade.  Sometimes I add in a pinch of thyme as well.  Just that easy the entree is done!  Then all I have to do is ask one couple bring salad and bread, one couple bring a vegetable and one couple to bring dessert.  BYOB, of course – Bring Your Own Beverage.   Oh I can hardly wait!  So which sounds easier to you – splitting the group check at a restaurant or hosting a pot luck at your house?  Do you have a favorite potluck dish you like to make?