EASY Hummus Recipe

Hummus has become really popular of the last few years, but it can be expensive if you have to buy it from the shops all the time.  This is an EASY and INEXPENSIVE hummus recipe you can make at home.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of cooked chick peas

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 Tablespoon of crushed garlic

1 teaspoon of seasalt

1/2 a cup of lemon juice (this may be too sour for some people, you may want to use less, also vinegar can be substituted)

Extra water for adjusting consistency if needed

Opptional extra flavouring ingredients such as sundried tomatoes, olives, pumpkin – any of your favourite flavours from the shop bought ranges.

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.  Add some additional water if it is too dry to make it smoother.  Serve.

See the video below for further instructions:

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Acupressure Massage Mats

For thousands of years traditional cultures have used stimulation by sharp objects as a way to clear mental, physical and emotional blockages.  In China this took the form of acupuncture and acupressure to cure disease and promote health and wellbeing, in India the Yogis and Fakirs lay on beds made of nails for the same purposes.

Now there is a modern version of this ancient practice, the acupressure mat.  The mat is made of foam rubber with a cotton cloth cover.  On the cover are plastic disks with spikes to gently stimulate and relax your body.  Each mat has almost 8000 spikes.  The stimulation from the acupressure mat increases blood flow and nervous activity in the area applied.

You can lie on the acupressure mat for up to 20 minutes at a time.  Some people find that when they first start using the mat the stimulation is a bit strong for them. If this is the case you can moderate the effect by putting a thin piece of cloth between the mat and your skin to begin with.

Some of the benefits people have found from using the acupressure mat are:

  • Improved Circulation
  • Relief from chronic back and neck pain
  • Reduced anxiety and stress
  • Better sleep and enhanced relaxation
  • Increased energy

Available in Green, Black, Purple and Pink:

The regular retail price of these is $89.95, but as a special introductory offer subscribers to the developyourqi newsletter can get them for $59.95 until the end of April.

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Upcoming Junior Kung Fu Grading

Junior Kung Fu Grading 

Date:               Saturday the 1st of May 2010

Time:               1- 2pm

Location:         46a Taharoto Rd, Takapuna, 09 550 3896, john@developyourqi.com

Grading Fee:   $20

Parents, please discuss with me your child’s progress and whether they will be grading prior to the grading date.  You can do this in person before or after a regular class, or by phone or e-mail.

Uniform

All students must wear the appropriate uniform to the grading and subsequent classes.  The uniform consists of long black pants and a plain black or white t-shirt.  Printed black t-shirts are also available, $20 for kids and $25 for adults.  Black martial arts jackets are optional.

Graded students must also wear an appropriate belt denoting their rank to classes.

A ‘tip’ is created by sewing a piece of cloth onto the end of a belt the colour of the preceding rank so that it extends about 10cm up the belt.  So a yellow ‘tip’ student would wear a white belt with a yellow piece of cloth sewn on the end.  An orange ‘tip’ student would wear a yellow belt with an orange piece of cloth sewn on the end.

Martial arts clothing and belts can be obtained from:

Auckland Martial Arts Supplies Ltd.
Address : 315 Queen St
Auckland, New Zealand
Phone : + 64 9 3771946

If you have any questions about the grading, do not hesitate to contact me.

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No qigong class on Monday 1st of March 2010

There are some important discussions with the Ministry of Health regarding natural therapies in New Zealand going on at the moment.  I have been invited to participate in these.  For this reason there will be no qigong class at 10am on Monday 1st March 2010.  Classes will resume as normal on Monday 8th. 

There may be a couple of other classes affected by meetings related to these discussions over the next couple of months.  I will keep you posted.

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Single vegetable salads recipe

Single vegetable salads are excellent in summer when lots of produce are coming ripe.  They may be cheap at the shops, or you may have an abundance in your garden which you need to use up.  At these times you can use just one vegetable that you have a lot of to make a delicious salad. 

 Single vegetable salads are also great when you have someone in your group or family who does not like or is allergic to particular vegetables.  You can make several salads, each based around just one vegetable, and people can eat and enjoy the ones that suit them and avoid the others.

Instructions:

Each salad will use just one vegetable, chopped, sliced or grated.

To this will be added vegetable oil (most people like olive but others are ok too) and either vinegar or lemon juice.  Essentially we are creating a vinaigrette but we are mixing it in the salad instead of pre-mixing it.  The vinegar will bring out the fresh flavours of the vegetables and the oil will give a smoothness and consistency.  Some vegetables will be more acid than others and so will need less vinegar and others will require more oil, you can adjust this to your own taste with each vegetable that you use.

Each salad will also have some other ingredients added to provide complementary flavours and textures.  What you use will depend on what you have available and what you feel like.  Some suggestions are:

Sunflower seeds, Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, Raisins, Salt, Pepper, Dried Herbs, Olives, Capers, Sundried tomatoes, Fresh Mint Leaves, Fresh Rosemary, Crushed Pineaple.

See the video for more instructions:

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Change of Timetable for Kids and Teens Kung Fu Classes

The class timetable has changed for the kids and teens kung fu classes.  This will make it easier for some of the kids to make it to class on time with the sometimes unpredictable Auckland traffic. 

New advanced Kung Fu classes are also being introduced for Kids and Teens who are orange belt and above.  All students of these ranks are encouraged to continue to attend the beginners class where they will continue to refine their basic strikes and kicks and also to attend the advanced classes where they will be able to spend more time focusing on animal forms, weapons and chin na.

The new times will take effect from Monday 22rd February 2010.

Timetable below:

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Wholemeal Pizza Recipe

Wholemeal pizzas at home are tasty, nutritious and convenient!  The home-made tomato sauce here goes well with this.

Ingredients:

3 cups wholemeal flour

1 tablespoon yeast

a pinch each of salt and sugar

a small amount of olive oil

1 1/3 cups of water

Directions:

Add dry ingredients together.  Add oil and water little by little.  Once mixed, knead with floured hands on a well floured surface for about 10 minutes.  Put dough in lightly greased bowl in warm area with damp tea towel over the top for 30 minutes to rise.  After 30 minutes, punch dough down and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.  Divide dough into the number of pizzas you want to make.  Roll out to between 5mm an 10mm thick.  Put pizza bases on baking tray.  Top with your favourite toppings.  Bake in an oven heated to 200 degrees celcius for about 7-10 min until base is cooked through and cheese on pizza is melted.  Serve. cenaless comprar

Makes 2-8 pizza depending on size and thickness of crust.

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Wholemeal Pasta Recipe

Once you’ve had this fresh home-made pasta you’ll think twice before going back to the store bought stuff.  The home-made fresh tomato sauce here goes well with it too.

Ingredients:

3 cups wholemeal flour

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 medium sized eggs

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.  Knead for about 5 minutes.  Wrap with plastic wrap and leave in fridge to rest for one hour.  Divide dough into pieces for rolling (it is best to do a small amount at a time).  Roll out as thin as you can!  You can now cut the pasta into any shape you like – fettucine, ravioli, lasagne etc.  If your dough was a bit moist you may want to leave the noodles to dry in the air for awhile before cooking.  Can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days before cooking if desired. 

Cook in fast boiling water with some olive oil and salt.  Will take about 7-8 minutes to cook.  Take a piece out and bite to see if it is cooked.

Serves 4-6

For more instructions watch the video:

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Fresh Home Made Tomato Sauce

 There is nothing quite like a fresh home made tomato sauce!  Great with pizza here, or pasta here, or many other dishes

Ingredients:

2 medium onions – diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs

1 kg fresh tomatoes chopped (you can use canned tomatoes if thats all you’ve got)

Salt and Pepper for seasoning

Instructions:

Heat a pan with your olive oil in it.  Saute the onions and garlic until light golden brown.  Add mixed herbs, tomatoes and a pinch of salt.  Continue stirring until tomatoes begin to cook down.  Turn heat down, cover and leave for 30 minutes checking and stirring occasionally.  Depending how thick you want your tomato sauce you may want to uncover it partway through cooking to let some of the water evaporate.  At the end of cooking at extra salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve the sauce chunky as is, or if you would like it smoother – process with a stick blender of food processor.  The sauce will keep in the fridge for a couple of days if needed.

For further directions watch the video:

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Do you want cheap organic food?

If you’ve been visiting the developyourqi.com blog regularly lately, you may have been wondering “Why are there all these recipes and cooking videos being posted?  I thought developyourqi.com was all about qigong and kung fu?”  (Note: I don’t send out an e-mail newsletter everytime there is a new blog post, only when there is an important announcement.  So it pays to visit the blog frequently.)

Well when I first set up the developyourqi.com website I had a vision of it being about more than just qigong and kung fu.  I wanted it to be a resource to help people develop every aspect of their ‘qi’, their lifeforce, wellbeing and vitality.  The food we eat is an incredibly important part of this, so for this reason you can expect to see more recipes and articles about different aspects of nutrition over the coming months.

Whats all this got to getting cheap organic food?

Well, the QUALITY of what we eat makes a huge difference to our health and wellbeing venus factor reviews – our qi.  I, like many of you have heard a lot about the importance of organic food, and again like many of you I have gone into organics shops and looked at the prices and wondered how on earth I would ever be able to afford to eat that way.  Well this year I have got serious about eating organic.  I am not 100% but I now manage to eat the bulk of my food from organic sources, and I must say I feel better for it. 

Of course whenever you find something good you want to share it with others, so I have been trying to find ways to help others eat good organic food. 

I have looked at selling organic foods from the centre in Takapuna, but after looking carefully at the market realised that to retail them in the normal fashion I would end up needing to sell them at the same prices that the regular organics shops sell them for – and people still wouldn’t be able to afford them. 

Thats not what I want.  I want to make it easier and more affordable for people eat organic.  So I have come up with another idea. 

I would like to set up a co-op type arrangement based out of the North Shore Kung Fu and Qigong Health Centre.

The system would work something like this:

Once a week customers place their order and pay for whatever organic products they would like that week.  They order a couple of days in advance to allow time for the products to be brought in from wholesalers.

The orders are collated at the centre and one bulk order is made with the wholesalers.

The individual orders are separated and prepared for dispatch at the centre.

Individual customers either pick up or have their orders couriered to them.

This system would give access to excellent wholesale prices.  Because there would be no need to hold stock, display products, take on financial risk etc – there would be no need for the normal retail markups, there would only be a much smaller percentage markup on wholesale prices to cover administration costs and the hours of work involved in collating and dispatching orders.

This will make organic products MUCH cheaper, in many cases comparable with the cost of regular food at a regular supermarket.

Well… thats my idea.  Now what do I need from you?

If you are interested in getting cheap organic food in this way or have friends who are interested, please e-mail me at john@developyourqi.com to express your interest.  I will only be able to run this system if there are enough people interested.

When you e-mail me, please also tell me what kind of products you would be interested in buying, also whether you would want to pick your purchases up or have them couriered out to you.

To give you an idea we would immediately have access to these kinds of foods:

Rice, Flour, Flakes, Whole grains, Beans, Lentils, Nuts and Seeds, Dried Fruit, Muesli, Pasta, Pasta Sauce, Oils, Vinegars, Fruit Juices, Conserves, Nut Butters, Margarine, Honey, Sweeteners and Syrups, Sugar, Miso, Soy Sauce, Sea Vegetables, Salt, Milk Powder, Canned Tomatoes, Canned Beans, Baby Food, Rice Cakes, Corn Chips, Mountain Bread, Soap, Eco-friendly cleaning products.

Over time if we have enough people buying we will probably be able to access even more products and may be able to look at sourcing fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables and meats as well.

Email me at john@developyourqi.com to register your interest.

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