Diet April 2012 Menu
Want access to customizable recipe cards and grocery lists, step-by-step instructions and labels complete with freezing directions and serving amount alterations so you don't have to do it all yourself? Become a Member!
Already a member? Sign In!
We are a quarter of the way through the year. How are those resolutions holding up? Spring time is in full swing as well which means an abundance of fresh produce starts to hit the stores. Warmer temperatures usually call for lighter meals and April’s Diet menu gives you plenty of options for springtime meals.
For a detailed explanation of what is meant by “diet” we have a post explaining what we mean. If you are new and not sure how to get started we have a wonderful series starting with 5 easy steps to get you on your way to once a month cooking. Good luck!
Granola and Yogurt Covered Fruit
Breakfasts
Lunches
- Split Pea Soup with Ham, Mushrooms, Carrots and Wheatberries
- Italian Turkey Zucchini Burgers
- Lemon Garlic Tuna Burgers
- Lighter Buffalo Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Dinners
- Chicken Rollatini with Spinach all Parmigiana
-
Shrimp & Orzo Bake
- Asparagus and Chickpea Stir-Fry with Hoisin Sauce
- Shrimp and Orzo Pasta Bake
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- Beef with Broccoli
- Quinoa Loaf
- Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls
**Indicates meals that require NO COOKING on your OAMC BIG DAY aka “throw and go” meals, perfect for the family who needs to adjust to just do the quick meals!
Recipe Cards
OAMM Members Only!Become a Member or Sign In to gain access.
Grocery List
OAMM Members Only!Become a Member or Sign In to gain access.
Instructions
OAMM Members Only!Become a Member or Sign In to gain access.
Labels
OAMM Members Only!Become a Member or Sign In to gain access.
Pinterest:
Are you a person that likes to see the menus visually? Perhaps you should check out the April 2012 Diet Menu via Pinterest to see the yummy goodness you will be cooking up on this menu. Not sure what Pinterest is all about, check out what Once A Month Mom has to say about it.
Facebook Fan Party:
OAMM Facebook Fan Page Party – April 12, 2012, 9:00 pm – 9:30 pm EST – We will be able to chat via video AND messaging during the event through FACEBOOK! How cool is that? We will be talking about the current month’s menus, answer your burning questions about freezer cooking and have fun getting to know one another. You can also see other past recordings from that tab as well. This is a great way to meet fellow Once A Month Mom’s or get your questions answered as you get started.
Instructions for viewing live-stream:
- Go to the Once A Month Mom Facebook Fan Page.
- Click on the “FB Fan Night” Tab on the left side margin.
- Hit “view live recording” – If I am live streaming it will show you what is happening in progress. If I am not live streaming at the time, you will have the option to click through other videos that I have recorded in the past.
- Enjoy!
Test Cooks
Each month we have some wonderful volunteers who “test” out the menu prior to publication. They do an amazing job of helping to eliminate confusion and mistakes. They may not catch everything but they sure do catch A LOT! If you are interested in test cook, feel free to volunteer. Here is a little bit about this month’s test cooks:
- Ami Israelsen -I am married and have two children (16-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy). I work full time outside the home. I have been participating in a freezer meal swap for about two years and enjoy having meals ready to go. I work with Krista and am glad I was able to get her to join my craziness with testing the diet menu. My blog is sparkyunderwraps.blogspot.com.
- Krista Terrell - Krista is a single mom to a 7-year-old boy. She, her son, and her brother live with her grandparents. She moved in with them three years ago to help take care of her grandmother who has experienced decreased health in the past five years. She also works full time outside the home. I recently roped her into swapping with my freezer meal group and then into helping me test this menu.
Get Started
Are you new to Once A Month Mom or once a month cooking (oamc) in general? If so, you might want to spend a few minutes (or hours) on the Get Started Series. If you are in a real hurry to catch on we have written some simple steps for getting started. Welcome!
If you are feeling abundantly blessed and generous feel free to donate. :) And don’t forget you can always go back and use April 2011′s menu if you are looking for something different!
[...] foods, diet, vegetarian, gluten/dairy-free, and baby food. I am going to attempt to make the diet freezer menu this week as we are back in diet-mode in our house and it looks pretty [...]
This is my first time doing this so I might just be missing something, but I didn’t see a place in the instructions to *start* the Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos. Then at step 19 it says to package them, but at 23 it says to turn off the slow cooker and shred the chicken (but the recipe seems to have you package them raw and cook/shred the day you’re serving). Should the chicken be cooked or not? Thank you.
This is an error on the instructions and we will update the document. They can really be done either way but the intent on the instructions was to make on the big cooking day, starting the chicken first in the slow cooker. Then, by the end of the day, they should be finished and ready to freeze. Since it is now cooked, it will be easy to just pull the cooked chicken out of the freezer and reheat with the taco fixings!
Came across this menu on Pinterest and was excited to try this out! Tried freezing a months worth of meals a long time ago & am eager to try again (4 kids later…it’s about time I try something to ease our crazy schedules around dinner time!) Did all my prep today and start cooking tomorrow!
Enjoy your cooking day and hope you really enjoy in the days ahead when you can just pull a meal out of the freezer!
I wanted to try out a couple of the diet recipes before doing a whole month of them. I tried the broccoli beef and Italian turkey burgers. I have to say they were amazingly good. I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce and it really needs the low sodium version. Regular is way too salty. I added just a couple sun-dried tomatos to the turkey burger, yummmy! Thanks for the all the work you do to make the monthly meal plans!!
Glad you enjoyed and hope there will be some other recipes you want to try! I agree on the soy sauce, I often find the regular to salty and will use the low-sodium. Another option is to use a little less soy sauce.
I can’t wait to try this! Hoping I can modify some of the dishes to make them low carb.
I am trying out the Chicken Rollatini recipe. The recipe says to put sauce and cheese on the chicken part way through baking. However, the cooking instructions on the labels don’t say anything about adding sauce and cheese. Should I just add the sauce and cheese to the chicken before freezing so it’s already on there? Or should I freeze the sauce and cheese separately and follow the recipe as originally written? Thank you!!
I believe you are looking at the original source of the recipe and not the recipe cards from the entire menu. The recipe cards for the entire menu include the modified instructions to allow for freezing. You can top with sauce and the remaining cheese prior to freezing and the proceed with the instructions on the cards/labels.
I cooked everything a week ago, and so far everything is DELICIOUS! Thanks so much! But…..I did buy a bunch of sesame seeds per the grocery list but never used them? Looking forward to May!
The granola recipe uses sesame seeds. I am happy to hear you are enjoying the meals!
I’m doing this menu tomorrow, wish me luck! I have a question about the cabbage rolls. I’m probably the only one that will eat them, so I was thinking of making them into a lunch. (This time, the menu is focused on what *I* want to eat :) Could I bake them first, and then freeze them in separate portions? Maybe I should try 1 pan of each…any thoughts?
Lisa – yes you could most certainly freeze them after you bake them. They will taste great having soaked up the juices and seasonings. Enjoy a YOU menu. :)
Another question…don’t I need to blanche the broccoli before freezing? I also have already-frozen broccoli, maybe I’ll use that and save the fresh broccoli for serving fresh, but I’d like to know for future reference, anyway. Thanks!!
I did not blanch the broccoli for the Beef with Broccoli before freezing. Using the already frozen broccoli should be fine in the preparation.
Thanks, Abbi and Tricia! Another question…I just put the chicken tacos in the slow cooker. There is going to be a lot of liquid left over — do you throw it away? Maybe I should make taco soup, though I’m already doing 16 recipes, egads :)
Mine definitely had some liquid leftover but it was not too much so I did not do anything with it. However, if you want to do something with it, the taco soup sounds like a great idea!
It’s enough that I think I’ll use it for something…and that is putting half the chicken stock in…I think next time, I would just use the juice from the tomatoes.
I am new to this great site. All of these meals can be made and then frozen,is that correct? How well does the •Greek Breakfast Burritos freeze?
Welcome! We wouldn’t put it on our menu if we didn’t think it wouldn’t freeze well. To get the freezing instructions you will need to click on and explore the “printable recipe cards” for the menu. Enjoy!