Each exercise is 1 minute. Do this circuit three times with only 2 min rest at end. During recovery 2 min, walk around. Do not sit!

1. Full body sit ups (add 10 lbs weight for advanced).

2. Wall sit with shoulders against wall & chin up. (Add in-n-outs of knees for advanced).

3. Prisoner squats (deep squat with weight in heels and hands behind head).

4. Walking lunges w/ glute lift. (add 10 lbs weight to each shoulder for advanced).

5. One leg on bench, standing leg bent, weight in glutes, quick upper cut punches. (Add 5 lbs. Weights to each hand for advance).

6. Plank hip dips. Plank on elbows and rotate hips to touch ground. (Full extension plank for advanced).

7. Plank, hands @ 12 & feet @ 6. Pushup and rotate hands to 3 and feet to 9 without losing plank. Do 12, 3, 6 & 12.

Everyone wants to fulfil these slogans, but how do you start? Everyone knows to resuse and recycle. Don’t use plastic bags, be sure bring your bags into the store. Recycle your cans and water bottles. Don’t use styrofoam. What else can you do?

How about 60 tips to get you into the Green Mind? Here is a site from small steps to going green to who to follow, green recipes, organic shopping, green cleaning supplies, buidling that garden, organizing local green clean ups, and any other idea you can think of to save Mother Earth.

How to Make Your Home Green in 5 Easy Steps.

These habits take minimal time while benefiting the environment—and your wallet.

1. Skip conventional cleaning products. Commercially available cleaning products are convenient but they aren’t always your safest—or cheapest—option. Here is an alternative suggestion spraying countertops with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, each in a metal spray bottle.

Other household substances can serve as inexpensive cleaners as well. Use half a cup of vinegar and half a cup of baking soda to remove water stains from the shower or to clean chrome and bathroom mirrors. Baking soda on a damp sponge can also be used as a scouring tool.

2. Avoid air leaks. Improving your home’s insulation means fewer drafts and lower heating bills.

3. Make the most of your appliances. Running a refrigerator can account for as much as 15 percent or more of a household’s electric bill.

4. Use light strategically. According to Seo, you can boost the light output and efficiency of bulbs by unscrewing and dusting them.

5. Earn rewards for your eco-friendly efforts. As you develop greener habits, you could earn rewards by signing up for websites like Recyclebank.com or Greenopolis.com. Actions like signing up for paper billing, recycling at home, or using less energy earn Recyclebank users points that are redeemable for coupons, gift cards, and free offers from major retailers. Greenopolis offers points for using Greenopolis recycling kiosks.

 GREEN RECIPE:

Enjoy some “green” dinner tonight: Avocado Stuffed Burgers.

1 1/4 lb extra lean beef or turkey, ground

1 x egg equivalent beaten lightly

1 sm yellow onion finely chopped

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

4 oz nonfat cheese

1/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

1 1/4 cup tomato juice

2 tsp chili powder

4 oz green chiles (4-oz. can)

1 sm avocado peeled

Instructions:

* (Monterey jack, cheddar, hot pepper, your choice)

Divide into 8 patties. In center of each patty place 1/4 slice of avocado, chilies and 1/4 of cheese. Place second burger on top and seal edges. Grill to preference.

NICE:

Cleaning out those closets and clothes and what do you do with them? Give them to a friend with younger children? Donate to the Goodwill? These are both great ideas, but do a little more research and find a philanthropy that is in dire need of your hand-me-downs.  Locally, we have “From the Heart” which is a store that allows all foster children and foster parents to come in and shop for free! Each time a child is moved, they can come into the store, are given a backpack and allowed to “shop”.  Foster parents can come in and get supplies for themselves and their children.  This is one of our favorite charities to donate to and help others right here in our community. We also have a injured Vet home locally that we donate RockIt Dad and RockIt Pappa’s clothes to for their residents. Do a little more locally and give to those in need in your backyard.

GREEN:

An easy way to clean green is to turn the dial on your washing machine to cold. Most loads don’t need hot water, and 90% of the energy used by washing machines goes into heating. The higher the water temperature, the higher the cost to you and the planet. And you don’t need to divide your colors from your whites, just add a cup of white vinegar to your wash. This will keep your colors from bleeding and add white to your whites without bleach.

HEALTH:

If you worry too much about losing weight can cause you to eat too few calories and sabotage your weight loss. Check out the Biggest Loser’s latest blog entry from the show’s nutritionists.  Not having enough calorie intake can starve your metabolism and end up making you lose muscle and then over eat the next day or late at night.

Worry, stress and lack of sleep can cause more than just yawning.  Here is an article to help you fall asleep and stay asleep all night long.  The most amazing tip, lying in bed watching mindless reruns, actually causes sleep loss and does not allow you to drift off naturally. Click here for more tips and catching zzzz’s.

FOOD:

Jump on over to the Food Tab for a Meatless Monday Spaghetti Squash and Edamame recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 cups baked Spaghetti Squash (about 1/2 large squash) See notes on how to prepare squash
• 2 tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 2 tablespoons Tamari Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar or Mirin
• pinch of ground Ginger
• pinch of Garlic Powder
• 2 tablespoons toasted Sesame Seeds
• 1/4 cup diced Green Onions
• 1/4 cup cooked & shelled Edamame
• handful of fresh chopped Cilantro leaves + some for garnish

• If you want to spice things up a bit…
• Hot Chili Oil
• Sriracha Sauce
• toasted chopped Peanuts

Method

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with the rack in the middle. Put whole squash in a baking dish and bake until you can easily insert a paring knife, about 40 minutes to one hour. Remove squash from oven and let cool about 10 minutes.
• Cut it in half from tip to tip (long ways) and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Scrape the sides of the squash with a fork until you have removed all the stringy spaghetti.

• Combine sesame oil, tamari, vinegar, ginger, garlic powder and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Add optional hot sauce/Sriracha if desired (or you can add at the end.) Toss with spaghetti squash noodles. Gently fold in edamame and green onions at the end.

• Tamari is wheat free, soy sauce is not. They both have a similar flavor. If you are not concerned about gluten free then you can use soy sauce instead.

Linen Closet Chaos

Do you dread changing sheets because you can’t ever find a complete match? Here is a little trick — after folding the matching sheets – place all sheets inside one of the pillowcases. When you are ready to change, go to your newly organized closet and gather a whole matching set.

 April Gifts for the Kiddos

If you are like RockIt Mom, the hippity hop of that bunny bringing all chocolate and sugar bombs drives me insane.  What can you have in those baskets that won’t send them over the sugar edge?  Here are some ideas instead of that chocolate bunny and all those jelly belly beans.  They are more expensive than chocolate but are better for the kids, some are even educational, and that sugar bomb is diffused!

The Recon Rover. The Rover is a toy, a robot, and a tool for learning. A child programs ReCon 6.0 to navigate specified courses that can deliver a treat to a pet, surprise a family member with a personalized message, carry a soda, guard a bedroom, or just dance. NO COMPUTER REQUIRED!

Game of Life Zapped– Remember the Game of Life? How cool it was and the little car with the pink and blue people? Well Hasbro has kicked it up, hint: an Ipad is needed!

Franklin Anytime Reader — How many more times can you read Good Nite Moon or Sam I Am? How about just 1 more time into this recorder that reads the store back to your child, anytime your hands are busy with other chores. Would a dictaphone work too? Yes, but kids want a “toy” as opposed to an archaic recording device.

Shocking Goat Watches — for the tweens and teens in your house. These are great fashionable watches, even celebrities are wearing them. There are numerous colors and designs.

Nabbi tablet for kids — A $200 tablet for kids, with a monstrously large protective case and a bundle of child-friendly apps. Nabi’s not the first children’s tablet on the market–LeapFrog’s LeapPad and Vtech’s Innotab are big competitors–but it’s the first that isn’t a toy. It’s got decent specs, including a 7-inch capacitive display, a dual-core 533 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage, a microSD card slot and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The operating system is Android 2.2. Even by adult standards, the Nabi is a real tablet.

Apps to help with your taxes, manage your budget and save on loans. 

CAN I BUY?

This app is now a TOP 10 PAID iPhone/iPad FINANCE APP! This app allows you to see and compare your income and expenditures, helps you make informed financial decisions when making major purchases and use  to help get back on your financial feet or teach kids how to make smart money decisions.

DOXO

This app is pioneering the way for people and providers to connect and go paperfree, breaking customer adoption barriers and saving businesses millions of dollars in printing, paper, and postage costs. This app helps organize your bills and reminds you of payments.

SMARTYPIG

If you are saving for a vacation, college or big ticket item, this app will help squirrel away the specified amount from your account each month, until you reach your goal.

Here are some more to check out this month:

DEBT SNOWBALL PRO

MANILLA

PAYPAL

SHOEBOXED

MINT.COM PERSONAL FINANCE

TURBOTAX 2011 TAX PREPARATION

YAHOO! FINANCE

Food- Springtime Salads

After a fabulous Seder dinner, which is not only a meal, but history and a fabulous event, try this new quinoa salad.  Tomato, Avocado, and Basil Quinoa Salad. Lately, quinoa and other ‘lunch’ salads are on the menu.  This one is fabulous, light and easy to make.  You will love it! If not, change up the recipe to items you enjoy. Any favorite flavored extra virgin olive oil can really make a recipe completely different.  Change it up and see what happens.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions

1 can chickpeas (drained & rinsed)

3 cups diced tomatoes

1 cups fresh spinach,

1 cup fresh basil,

1 avocado, chopped,

Crumbled goat or feta cheese for sprinkling (optional)

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Squeeze of lemon juice

Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Mix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Chop basil and spinach finely (or give them a whirl in a food processor) and set aside. In a large bowl, mix quinoa, chickpeas, avocado, tomato, spinach, basil and dressing. Place in refrigerator until you’re ready to serve. Sprinkle with goat or feta cheese prior to serving, if desired.

Tip: If you’re looking to spice up your quinoa, try cooking it in low sodium vegetable broth instead of water. You’ll punch up the flavor without adding fat and calories.

Makes two entree-size servings, or four side servings

Nutritional info., per entree-sized serving, without cheese: 533 calories, 17 g protein, 23 g fat, 67 g carbs. Want to cut down on calories and fat? Use a teaspoon of olive oil instead of tablespoon to save 40 calories and 2 g of fat, and use half an avocado instead of a whole to nix 120 calories and 11 g of fat.

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass

Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass-the fibers catch ones you can’t see!

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come n ear it.

Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and — voila — static is gone.

Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry the cup.

Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…

Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home,” can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. We always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes. He told us that he wanted to show us something. He took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. Now, the lint filter is made of a mesh material – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like. WELL…the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dry er sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I’d share!

Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right through the screen! There wasn’t any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

And the seasoning possibilities are endless – you can tailor them to your liking. Garlic, paprika, chili powder… use your imagination! I went with a basic Seasoned Salt and they came out great. But whatever you choose, just make sure you go easy on the seasonings, and only use a little bit – these do shrink a lot in the oven, so what looks like a reasonable amount on the raw veggies could turn out to be way too much!

Baked Zucchini Chips

1 zucchini

canola cooking spray

seasoned salt, or other seasoning(s) of your choice

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil, and spray with canola oil. Set aside.

Slice zucchini into thin medallions, about the thickness of a quarter. (You can either use a knife & a very steady hand, or a mandoline slicer.)

Lay out slices on prepared baking sheet, and spray tops lightly with additional cooking spray. Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. (A note on seasoning, however – use LESS than what seems appropriate. These shrink considerably in the oven, and if you use too much it gets very concentrated. It’s better to end up underseasoning and add more later.)

Place in preheated oven and bake 45 minutes. Rotate baking sheet, and bake an additional 30-50 minutes, until chips are browned and crisped to your liking. These are best eaten within a couple hours of removing from the oven, as they start to get chewy if left out. One zucchini makes one serving (1/4 C. – 1/3 C. of chips depending on the size of your squash).

This week, the tips are going to have a little bit of a twist.

NICE:

Thinking positive it truly the way to happiness and health.  It is not easy and I get that.  Here is a article how to send that happiness and positive reinforcement to your kids.  Do all 5 ways and reflect on how it makes the kids feel.

HEALTH:

You have know about the eating disorders of anorexia and bulima, now look at the new diagnosis, orthorexia and pregorexia.  What do you think? Just another label or truly a disorder?

FOOD:

Meatless Monday Enchiladas and done in the slow cooker, this is the way to make Monday much easier. Click here for the recipe.

EXERCISE:

If you have a case of the March blahs, shake up your workouts. Get out of the gym, click here outside workouts.

Remember if “mamma aint’ happy, ain’t nobody happy”, the infamous words of Will Smith. So make yourself happy this week, March is a hard month to get through. Remember we are in this together! If you need to vent or have a request, just let us know. There are plenty of RockIt Moms to help out! Have a great week.