Easy, Quick Summer Recipe: Bean Chilli

Helen Reid from Eat to Live provides us with some quick healthy recipes for us busy people:

Bean Chilli

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups kidney beans, tinned are fine
• 1 C bulghar wheat (or cracked wheat)
• 1 tin, chopped tomatoes
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 1 green pepper, finely chopped, or any left over vegetables
• Juice ½ lemon
• 1 tsp each of ground cumin, basil, chilli powder
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 3 Tbsp dry red wine (optional)
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• Olive oil to sauté

Preparation:

1. Heat chopped  tomatoes to boiling point. Pour over bulghar wheat.
2. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.
3. Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil in a heavy based pan until soft.
4. Add other ingredients except beans.
5. Cover and cook until tender.
6. Add beans, cracked wheat.
7. Cover and simmer until beans are heated through.
8. Serve with crusty bread, and salad.

Easy, Quick Summer Recipes: Chicken With Couscous Salad

Helen Reid from Eat to Live provides us with some quick healthy recipes for us busy people:

Chicken with Couscous Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 200g couscous
• 1 red pepper cut into chunks
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 50g raisins
• 300ml hot chicken stock (1 tsp powder in 1 cup boiling water)
• 2 tbsp nuts toasted, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seedsJuice and grated rind of 1 lemon
• 2 cooked chicken breasts or thighs, sliced
• 4 handfuls salad leaves, cucumber chunks, tomato pieces

Preparation:

1. Place the couscous, pepper, onion, raisins in heat proof bowl.
2. Pour boiling chicken stock over. Cover and leave 10 minutes.
3. Fluff couscous with a fork.Stir in nuts and lemon juice.
4. Season and serve with sliced chicken, and salad greens.

Note: you can replace chicken with tuna, or salmon, or chickpeas.

Easy Quick Summer Recipe: Savoury Muffin Frittatas

Helen Reid from Eat to Live offers a quick healthy muffin frittata recipe for us busy people:

Savoury Muffin Frittatas

Serves:    2-3

Ingredients:

• ½  Onion
• 1 rasher bacon
• Oil spray
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup low fat milk
• ½ Cup self raising flour
• 1  potato cubed and cooked ( or leftover potatoes or other vegetables)
• ½ 400g tin whole kernel corn
• 2 tbsp grated cheese
• Chopped fresh herbs eg thyme,sage
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven t0 200 C
2. Chop up bacon and onion into small pieces.
3. Spray pan with oil. Add bacon,onion.cook until soft.
4. In a bowl beat eggs,milk,onion,bacon. Add salt pepper to taste.
5. Mix in flour. Add corn chopped potatoes or leftover vegetables, and ½ grated cheeses.
6. Spray 4 muffin tins with oil. Spoon mixture into cups. Top with grated cheese.
7. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes.
8. Cool for 5 mins before turning out.
9. Serve with a little chilli sauce.

Great for picnics!

Organised for a Stress-free Xmas?

Kinetica’s Katy Macpherson offers organising tips for a stress-free Christmas:

Do you want to be more organised this Christmas?

Make Christmas lists!

Make a present list now and keep it in your purse/wallet so you have it to hand whenever you are in town. Remember the current local campaign – Shop Local. Shopping local keeps the money in town for the town, to employ people so they can remain in town. Shopping local makes sense.

Start planning your meals for the festive season now. Consider meals that are quick yet interesting and can be a joint effort, so you have more time to enjoy with friends and relatives. Make a list of the meals and then allocate the meals to actual dates. Don’t you get tired of thinking what to have for tea? Well, having all the meals planned in advance makes this busy time of year so much more enjoyable.

Thirdly, make grocery lists, one for each store. Be careful, it’s so easy to over indulge at this time of year, so only buy what you need with perhaps a few extra treats! Grocery lists cut the cost of your shopping bill, so get in the habit of only shopping with a list. Start to get the basics in now and avoid the last minute crowds!

You can even start by making a list of the lists you have to prepare!!!

Author – Contact Katy Macpherson today to see how Kinetica can help you organise your office and home: 03 443 6224, 021 154 5511 or get organising tips directly into your emailbox, just email katy@kinetica.co.nz

Underestimated? Healing Potential & Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga teacher Peggy Preston explains the health benefits of yoga:

Yoga brings energy and healing potential in to the body by increasing the amount of life force we have in our bodies.
We have billions of cells in the body. The cell is the basis of all tissue, bones, muscles, fluids.  The cells of the body are nourished by the blood flow, the rivers of life that bring nutrients and oxygen and take away the trash and carbon dioxide.

Yoga For Oxygen Flow

Lack of oxygen in the body leads to disease on every level. Oxygen is what supports the healing abilities of the circulatory, respiratory and endocrine systems.  Oxygen is a very important ingredient for tissue renewal.  Oxygen is half of what makes water. We are about 97% water. Oxygen is life.

We stretch the heart and lungs with breathing techniques and physical postures thus increasing our lung and heart capacity. This increases the body’s ability to feed the cells by improving circulation and the amount of oxygen in the blood stream.
Circulation is stimulated in yoga by contracting muscles, doing inversions, increasing the heart rate, and applying the “tournequite effect; essentially, creating a dam on the blood flow, then opening the dam allowing the blood to surge through tissues, cells, muscles, and joints with extra power. More circulation means more oxygen, more life-force, and more healing.

Yoga’s Health Benefits Found in Millennia of Study

Yoga is in a class of it’s own in the modern day world. It comes from thousands of years of study and gaining knowledge through doing and seeing the results over time. It is a very sure outcome of increased health and vitality if properly practiced.
Many very famous yoga teachers including mine, Bikram Choudhury, have made it their life work to prove with the Western medical community,  the specific affects of yoga on specific parts of the body and on the whole body as a whole.
Yoga is an ancient study of breath, of consciousness, of body, and all that follows. It is an endless study of human potential.

Author - Peggy Preston is a yoga teacher at Studio Sangha, Queenstown (03 442-YOGA). For more information on yoga and a class schedule, see www.queenstownyoga.com.

Manuka Oil Stronger Than Tea Tree Oil?

Build Green: Eco-friendly Insulation & Energy Saving Heating

Jessica Winter of Sustainable Wanaka offers ideas for eco-friendly insulation and energy saving heating for your home:

New Zealand homes have historically been extremely inefficient: 30 years after insulation became mandatory, around 350,000 homes are poorly insulated or have no insulation at all. Many of those are in the Queenstown Lakes District, where many houses were built for summer use only but are now lived in year round.

In addition to the insulation problem, the cost of energy to households has risen in real terms by 16% since 1995. Owners of thermally inefficient homes are paying more year-on-year to heat their homes or are accepting inadequate levels of heating to keep the cost down.

At Alexa Forbes’ house in Frankton, there are many examples of energy efficient measures that have made their old villa more comfortable, liveable and cheaper to run. Alexa and her partner, Sean Drader, have spent the last five years adapting the old house, including removing internal walls to make an open living room, adding large windows to the north facing side of the house, retrofitting insulation in the ceiling and floor, installing solar water heating, a heat recovery ventilation system and thermal blinds.

However, some parts of the house are still very cold in winter and Alexa called me for advice on how to improve it further. The ‘Eco Design Advisor’ scheme, which I provide through Sustainable Wanaka, is a free service for homeowners, designers and builders wanting advice on any aspect of sustainable building: healthy materials, passive solar design, energy and water efficiency, renewable energy and landscaping, to name a few of the main issues.

Alexa and Sean converted six small rooms into one on the north side of the house and opened up the entire north wall to the sun. They laid a stone floor in the two-metres adjacent to the glazing (using stone from Dunstan). This ‘thermal mass’ absorbs the sun’s heat and, although it doesn’t feel warm, it regulates the internal temperature of house by storing the sun’s heat captured during the day and re-releasing it at night. It also helps keep the house cool in summer.

The new windows are double glazed ‘composite’ windows – timber frames (for warmth and resistance to heat loss) on the inside and aluminium on the outside (for durability and stability).

The Yunca fire does a good job of heating the house and also provides a back up to the solar for water heating. Alexa says there are only three months in the year when they use any electricity for water heating. Her solar panels were installed five years ago when experience of solar in the industry was generally minimal. However, some initial glitches aside, the solar is now working very well. I suggested insulating the pipes that run between the fire and the cylinder above and adding a cylinder wrap, to minimize heat loss.

Ceiling
Alexa and Sean installed extra insulation in the ceiling, which has helped save money on power bills and made the house feel warmer.  They have done a good job, installing the insulation tightly between the joists without compressing them. However, I discovered a few gaps in the insulation that need to be filled in. It is worth noting that even a two-mm gap around the edge of insulation batts can reduce the ‘R-value’ (a measure of a material’s resistance to heat loss) by around 20%.

I also advised Alexa to add a second layer of batts over the top, running perpendicular to the existing batts. This will cover up any gaps in the bottom layer and cover the joists, which transmit far more heat than the insulation that surrounds them.

Alex resisted having recessed down lights fitted in the living room during the renovation. Recessed down lights, favoured by electricians for the uniform light they provide, are inefficient for several reasons. Firstly, they require an aperture to be made in the insulation, which compromises the thermal integrity of the building and, secondly, the heat they generate causes warm air to rise from them which pulls warm air out of the living space below. If the living space is a kitchen or bathroom, this air is damp and the moisture condenses in the roof space. While recessed down lights create uniformly lit spaces, they are not a sustainable lighting option.

Floors
Sean has insulated under parts of the existing floor with foil faced batts or reflective foil.  However, there are some parts of the floor that are still completely uninsulated and draughty. Insulating the whole floor with foil-faced blanket will make the house a lot warmer, and will reduce draughts as well.

If you are doing this yourself, be careful! Several people have electrocuted themselves by stapling through electrical cables while installing foil insulation under houses. Sean had to contend with white tail spiders and cat poo – it may be worth employing someone to do this for you!

Heating
The heat recovery ventilation system has proved to be failure. The system is designed to extract warm ‘waste’ air from the living room and use it to preheat incoming fresh air from outside, which is then ducted into the bedrooms. However, Alexa says that even when she holds a fan heater to the extract vent in the living room, no heat arrives in the bedrooms. I suggested removing the heat exchanger as it is obviously not working, and convert the system to a standard heat transfer system, in which heat is extracted from the living room and ducted directly into the bedrooms.  New heat transfer systems can be bought from hardware stores or from specialist companies.

Windows
Most of the windows are old single glazed timber sashes (the new French doors excepted). These are losing a significant amount of heat and make the bedrooms uncomfortably cold. I suggested fitting ’secondary’ glazing, which is effectively a second, single glazed window, fitted internally within the existing reveal.  These could be fixed panes – which are cheaper – and can be removed in summer. The principle is to create a still layer of air between the window and the room – it is the air that is the insulator in double-glazing. Old windows – or any windows for that matter – can be improved by fitting well-fitting blinds or curtains which also provide a still layer of air: good curtains can effectively make single glazing perform the same as double glazing. This is why it is so important to close curtains at dusk. I also suggested fitting draught-strips to opening windows and fixing gaps in the frames of fixed panes.

Sustainable Living
Alexa has implemented a number of sustainable living measures, beyond the alterations to the house. She and her neighbour share a chicken house (with very happy occupants), a vegetable garden, a compost heap and greenhouse. Both houses have their own private outdoor space, but they share these parts of the garden, saving them both space.

Each 1% improvement in energy efficiency in New Zealand Homes will result in $17 million of savings and reduce the country’s CO2 emissions by 0.1%. Little changes such as those made by Alexa and Sean – and the changes they will be making – will make a big difference to your comfort, your heating bill and your environment.

Author – The Eco Design Advisor is an initiative of BRANZ and is funded by QLDC, Ministry for the Environment and EECA in this district. Sustainable Wanaka project manage the service. To make an appointment, contact Jessica Winter on 027 5837444 or email jessica@sustainablewanaka.co.nz

Sunshine is Officially Good for You But Dose Yourself Carefully

According to Australian and New Zealand scientists, a daily dose of 10-15 minutes of exposure to sunlight will help prevent vitamin D deficiency.

A Fine Balance

We’re often told about the risk of overexposure to the sun. But without sun we risk depriving our bodies of vitamin D. A deficiency that is linked with developing cancer, arthritis and osteoporosis.

While short doses of sun are good, that means not letting yourself go red or burn. Ultraviolet light comes at a cost:

• UVA – Long-wave solar rays that penetrate the skin deeply and cause premature aging.
• UVB – Short-wave solar rays that cause sunburn and have been linked to skin cancer.

Avoid exposure to the sun or cover up when the UVI (The Ultraviolet Index) index is high and be aware that the time it takes to burn depends on your skin type and the strength of the sun too.

Slap On the Sunscreen

Suncream works by using either a chemical filter that penetrates the skin and absorbs the sun’s rays, or a physical filter that layers a thin membrane to reflect the sun’s rays. These rays are particularly harmful and are believed to cause melanoma. What’s important is that suncream itself doesn’t protect you from skin cancer or premature ageing, while lotions prevent burning, they don’t block out UVA rays effectively.

But Be Kind to Your Skin – Use Organic Sunscrean

Organic suncreams are free from alcohol, artificial perfumes, petrochemicals, parabens and synthetic ingredients, known as ‘skin nasties’. The natural ingredients in organic suncream both protect and heal the skin, and as they don’t contain chemical filters, vitamin D can penetrate the skin. Be aware that organic suncream is likely to be low factor so, as with all suncream, apply regularly and after swimming.

Go Easy On the Eye

The eyes and sensitive skin around them can be damaged, if they are exposed to excessive sunlight. Excessive exposure to UV rays can cause corneal sunburn and long-term exposure may contribute to chronic eye disease.

Children, in particular, need eye protection if they are spending the day on the water or at the beach. It’s best to choose sunglasses that fit closely to the face and wearing a wide-brimmed hat also reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the eyes.

Boost Your Resistance to Sunburn With Beta-carotene

Experts believe that we can increase our resistance to sunburn by eating beta-carotene, found in colourful fruits and vegetables and vitamin E, in peppers, avocados, nuts and seeds.

Top Ten Tips For a Waste Free Christmas

Our local recycle centre offers advice on how to have a sustainable christmas:

1. Buy services or experiences as presents such as memberships, event tickets, vouchers or donations to a favourite charity.
2. Buy quality products with zero or minimal packaging. Buy locally made with natural materials that last for years, not just until the end of the holidays.
3. Write I.O.U.s. Dust off your babysitting, dog walking, housecleaning, gardening or haircutting skills – whatever you’ve got – and make someone’s day just a little bit easier.
4. Get crafty and make your own presents. Home made chutneys, cakes or chocolates make a thoughtful and low impact present.
5. Plan your menu around seasonal and local food and drinks. Buy nudevegetables with no packaging and no plastic bag.
6. Avoid serving food and drink on disposable plates and cups. Borrow what you don’t have from neighbours or get a spare set from the recycle centre.
7. If you buy a real tree consider buying a living native tree that you can plant afterwards. Or give your tree a second life by taking it to the green waste depot.
8. Use recyclable paper, newspaper, ribbon or string to wrap presents. Take care when opening gifts so you can reuse the wrapping paper.
9. Vent your festive frustration by crushing your tins and plastic bottles before putting them in your crate.
10. Spare some festive cheer for the good folk that collect you recycling who hand sort all of your empties by giving them a quick rinse out before putting in your crate – especially milk bottles please.

Author - Wanaka Wastebusters was set up by the local community with the goal of achieving zero waste. See www.wanakawastebusters.co.nz.

Five Tips For a Stress-less Summer

Tips for summer stress relief from Health in Harmony’s friend Christopher Wesseling:

1. Make a half hour appointment with yourself at least once a week. If you find yourself getting caught up in work or other duties, make time just for you.

2. Find a place you enjoy being and visit it regularly. It may be a place with a view or a place that inspires you with its sense of beauty. Maybe it’s somewhere that just makes you feel relaxed and or inspired inside.  Enjoy the sense that comes with being there, take time out and relax.

3. Refocus and breath out the stress letting it go. If you find yourself getting caught up on something that is bringing on stress take a breath and focus on the sense of it coming in turning around and going out again. Do this for as long as is required to expell the stress.

4. Learn to ask for help. Two heads are better than one and often others see things we may have missed great to have the contribution.

5. Learn to meditate (classes are availabe with Evolve ) and buy a book of inspirational thoughts and sayings to reflect on. Some time meditating or reading your book is a great way to start or end the day before going to bed.

Christopher Wesseling.
Evolve.

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