birth of the blog!

Welcome to the blog!  I’ve been getting hints here and there for the last year or so from friends and family that I should start a blog, but it’s much easier said than done.  So you make the decision to start a blog – now what? 

·     What is my niche?  What am I passionate about?  In my case, the problem was “too many things.” 

·     I don’t even know the first thing about blogging.  Host site?  Wordpress?  What?  I didn't even know where to begin.

·     What are my goals for the blog? 

·      I’m scared.  Whatever – do it!

After a lot of thought and soul-searching, na•mom•ste™ was born (thanks Amber!).  My hope is that this little blog can be a community forum to bounce ideas around about living a healthy, active lifestyle and raising kids to do the same.  My plan is to talk about a little of this, a little of that – fitness, nutrition, babies, and day-to-day fun.  At times, there may be a little TMI haha.  :-) Sorry, I’m an open book.  If that makes you blush, I apologize ahead of time.

A little about me:  I am a new(ish) wife to an amazing man, soon-to-be new Mom, pescatarian, Certified Personal Trainer and recovering shopaholic that could literally spend all day in the kitchen.  I absolutely love to cook (lucky for my husband, who will be the first to admit it isn’t one of his many talents) and have learned to love working out (with the support of my husband, who I like to call The Bionic Man). 

Through my successful 35 lb weight loss journey, I developed a completely new relationship with food.  I decided to become a vegetarian and had to basically relearn how to cook.  I grew up on the square American meal of a meat, a veg and a starch (not necessarily always healthy depending on the ingredients and method of cooking).  That wasn’t going to work so much anymore.  I love exploring with new ingredients and flavors, new styles of cooking and new tricks.  I love learning about new fitness trends, trying new classes & workouts, and constantly challenging my body.  This has been a huge learning curve for me because I wasn’t exactly an athlete growing up – and now that I am pregnant, I’m facing new challenges with my body.  Hopefully, I can pass along some good nuggets of information – and I really hope to get some wonderful new ideas from all of you! 

Thank you for beginning this journey with me!  It’s going to be a fun ride.  Here is a little photo recap of the journey I’ve been on so far….

 

(pre-weight loss, Dec 2007)

(post-weight loss, December 2008)

(my new body, 21 weeks pregnant! January 2012)

Completely unrelated, but I’ll leave you with an amazing recipe for Banana Bread since my house smells like it right now. :-) It can be easily altered for the GF and vegan folks out there.

1 ½ c whole wheat flour (brown rice flour works too)

¾ c sugar (I like turbinado)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

3 egg whites (there are many vegan equivalents to choose from:  flax eggs & Ener-G egg replacer are my favorites)

½ c no sugar added applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 mashed *really* ripe bananas 

1.  Preheat oven to 350⁰ and spray a 9 x 5 aluminum loaf pan.  (cooking times vary for ceramic  or glass)

2.   Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add the wet ingredients minus bananas and mix well.

3.  Here’s the secret (my Mom might kill me for sharing):  squish the bananas with your (clean) bare hands.  Seriously…like a 3 year old, through your fingers.  Do it, you’ll thank me later.

4.  Fold the bananas into the batter. 

5.  Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50ish minutes until the edges are golden brown.   Some people like their bread still moist in the middle, some like it a little more done.  Whatever floats your boat. :-)

6.   Enjoy and know that you’re only eating about 160 calories per slice (about 1/8^th of the loaf).  

**Warning: bad cell phone pictures ahead!  The new camera will be here next month!** 

xo

Shaina