TRADITIONAL August 2011 OAMM Menu (OAMC, Once A Month Cooking, Freezer Cooking)
Writing the August menu is a bit bittersweet for me. I’m not sure I’m ready for summer to come to an end!
BBQ-Stuffed Chicken
This menu includes many seasonal items, yet since my kids (and I’m guessing many of yours!) start school soon, it also includes many easy meals to keep on hand as your family prepares for the busy school/fall schedule.
I hope you enjoy these meals as much as our early readers/cooks have. If you are new and not sure how to get started, read here. For frequently asked questions visit here. And there are several other helpful links under the Helpful Hints/Resources section below to help you on your cooking journey. Good luck!
Menu
- Included below are the menu items that we will be preparing as part of our Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) BIG DAY. In the printable August 2011 Recipe Cards the menu items are listed as single, double, or quadruple depending on how much we need to make on the BIG DAY. The recipes linked below are ONLY for the single batch, to see the amounts we are making on the OAMC BIG DAY you will need to visit the printable August 2011 Recipe Cards.
- Having trouble using the Recipe Cards or YELLOW BOX? See this post!
Sausage and Pepper Penne
Sausage and Pepper Penne
Breakfasts
Lunches
Dinners
**Indicates meals that require NO COOKING on your OAMC BIG DAY!
Grocery List
- Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your August 2011 OAMC BIG DAY. For more instructions on how to use this, go here.
- TRADITIONAL August 2011 OAMM Grocery List
Instructions
- These are the step-by-step instructions you will need to quickly and efficiently approach your OAMC BIG DAY!
- TRADITIONAL August 2011 OAMM Instructions
Labels
These customized labels are designed specifically for the August 2011 Once A Month Mom Menu. They contain not only the name of the dish but also the serving instructions for preparing the dish on your serving day. They make preparation of the dishes hassle free.
These labels are designed to be printed on Avery 8163
Pinterest:
Are you a person that likes to see the menus visually? Perhaps you should check out the August 2011 Traditional 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 – August 14, 2011, 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.
Instructions for viewing live-stream:
- Go to the Once A Month Mom Facebook Fan Page.
- Click on the “Facebook Fan Night” Tab on the left.
- 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! Here is a little bit about this month’s test cooks:
- Two Chicks Cooking have been friends for over 30 years. They are now empty nesters, but have children home for the summer. They enjoy the OAMC concept and wish they had been aware when their kids were little. Their families are more into beef than chicken, and they like to share delicious sounding recipes at Two Chicks Cooking.
- Mandy is a mom to a 5-year-old and 9-month-old twins. She is also a teacher and blogs occasionally about her family at Working Hard Mom.
Helpful Hints/Resources
- Creating Your Own OAMC Menu Series
- How To Navigate the OAMM Menu
- Preparing For A Successful OAMC Day
- Adapting The Menu for YOUR Family
- Making the Menu Healthier
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Shopping For Your Cooking Day
- Final Shopping Trip For Your OAMC Day
- Choosing The Right Containers
What do you think of August 2011’s menu?
Gotten your copy of Survive Before 5 eCookbook? If not, you should! Save your sanity for only $7.99. And don’t let the title scare you away if you don’t have toddlers, it is JUST AS GOOD for school age children as well.
If you are feeling abundantly blessed and generous feel free to donate. :) But don’t feel guilty if you aren’t able. And don’t forget you can always go back and use August 2009‘s OR August 2010‘s menus if you are looking for something different!
I’d say happy August, but I’m not sure I’m ready for summer to be over. Thanks for including my Baked Pesto Chicken in your menu!
Love your recipes, it was our pleasure!
What a gorgeous bunch of meals :)
I did my first OAMM cooking this weekend. The August menu sounded fantastic and we just purchased a large freezer. It was a very LONG day/night of cooking, but so worth the effort. Thanks for bringing this to us, I’m looking forward to September!
So glad you’ve jumped in!!
I was just wondering if you have used frozen fruits and vegetables that you have purchased over the month. Do I need to make cooking changes because they were frozen first?
I usually do use frozen fruits and vegetables. Sometimes. Depends on the recipe. If I can add them without thawing and refreezing them, then I use them. Or if I am cooking them before refreezing them. It really isn’t so much an issue of safety as much as quality. So I just use my best judgment. If you are wondering about fruits in a certain recipe, feel free to ask. As for general produce, I tend to purchase that last, right before my cooking day.
How do you recommend thawing/cooking the day of eating for most recipes? Sorry if I’ve overlooked this….
Usually in the refrigerator overnight or for several days depending on size/quantity of dish.
I am buying the ingredients this weekend. I am doing the August menu. I am wondering if I HAVE to use instant rice. I don’t keep instant in my pantry. Can I just use long grain?
You could use long grain instead if you’d like, it will just need to be cooked before adding it to the unstuffed pepper bake.
Thank you. I did buy the instant for the unstuffed pepper bake, as it appears it would work better.
I made the Unstuffed Peppers with regular brown rice instead of instant by cooking it for only 30 minutes in a bit less water than usual. Once cooked with the rest of the dish, it was perfectly done – not crunch, not mushy.
Thanks for that tip!!
I know I’m a tad behind on this menu, but above it says that there won’t be any cooking required for the Buffalo Chicken Rolls. However, in the instructions, it says to bake them, package and freeze.
So am I supposed to cook them before freezing them?
Also, because I’m a noob to this…do you usually let all things (even these rolls) thaw before cooking? I know things like chicken breasts would have to thaw first, but I’m wondering about smaller stuff like this.
Thoughts? Comments?
You could do either (bake before or after) but you are right, we should delete that asteriks so as not to confuse. All the thawing instructions are indicated on the printable recipe cards and labels. Yes, we usually have things thaw before cooking them unless directions indicate otherwise. Rolls like this, they can go straight to the oven.
Only two more meals to cook and I will be finished. Everything is turning out fabulous! My kids (picky toddlers might I add) ate and LOVED the roasted tomato pasta for lunch today. They also love the breakfast smoothies and the fruit salad. I ate some egg rolls for lunch today, delicious! We had a long morning at the pool, and I am so glad I could easily give them something nutritious to eat! Love your site!
Thank you so much and we are so glad that you are liking the recipes. And that the kids are too.
I am cooking tomorrow for 3 servings and it said I needed 15 pounds of chicken. The do ahead instructions call for me to cook up 1.5 cups of chicken. In trying to figure out how much that would be in pounds I counted the amount for the rest of the recipes and figured I’d subtract. I came up with 10.5 pounds of chicken, does 4.5 pounds of chicken really only make up 1.5 cups? I’m so confused.
Well, it should be 1.5 pounds in the slow cooker that should come out to around 1.5 cups in the slow cooker. The other pounds of chicken get used in the other recipes indicated. Turns out the total chicken amount was off a little bit too. The total amount for 3 servings should be 12 pounds. I made those fixes. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
LOL good to know. Well I am going to shred 4 pounds of chicken and turn the rest into BBQ!
*Roasted Tomato Pasta– YUMMO!!!
*Baked Pesto Chicken- havne’t tried yet
*Sausage and Pepper Penne– haven’t tried yet
*Pesto Lasagna– Made and LOVED- didn’t do it slow cooker though- just 8×8′s added some zuchini that we had as well
*Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya– haven’t tried it yet–smells Yummy though! I halved the batch too (usually cook for 4) and still had 3 ziplocs!
We aren’t huge fans of cooked peppers so not as much from this menu for us this time- and I don’t know why I didnt do the pork chops.. had the ingredients! doh!
Can’t wait for September!!
[...] far! By 6PM my kitchen was clean and ready for the next day! If you would like to learn more about Once A Month Cooking check out Once A Month Mom. My clean [...]
Just wondering. For the stuffed pizza sticks would you frezze them before or after you cooked them?
Nevermind. I’m new to this and just found the instruction sheet
I am somewhat confused. If I change the number to “5″ are the amounts listed for 1 family of 5 or 2 families of 5. Thank you!
You should change the number to 5 for ONE family of 5. It should be 10 if you are cooking for TWO families of 5. I think some of the “old way” posts and new way posts are getting confused.
[...] Here is what is currently in my freezer from the traditional August Menu: [...]
I entered 6 in the yellow box of the recipe cards, and I got confused. It stated that I would been 24lbs of chicken, but then in the next section it stated that I needed 30lbs of chicken thawed. So, Do I need a total of 54lbs of chicken (That surely can’t be right), or is the 24 or 30lbs quantity correct?
It turns out that BOTH slots should read 24 lbs of chicken when cooking for 6. And that should be the amount listed on the grocery list too. I will go make that change to the doc now. Thanks for catching that.
Just tried the green smoothie today and it was a big hit! I didn’t even add the extra honey and it was still quite sweet. My almost 2 year old downed a whole cup full and my husband even tasted it – which is a big feat for him :) I also tried replacing the pear for strawberry and it tasted yummy – though the red does turn it a muddy color.
We just re-heated the Homemade Chicken Nuggets (at 425 for 15 minutes). Everyone gobbled them up! It’s so great to finally land on a nugget recipe we all agree on. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you and the OAMM crew. You are such a blessing to our busy family!
Thanks so much for letting us know! It’s great to get feedback for the hard work we do :).
Hi. I’m new to your site and am confused about the printable recipe cards. When I click on the link or download the document, nothing comes up except your general instructions for the number to put in the yellow box. From what I understand, it’s supposed to tell me how much of each ingredient right?
Hi Kelsey and welcome! The cards are set up in a tab format and I think you are just stuck on the first instructions page. If you make your window wider and look at the bottom there are tabs for each recipe. Does this help?
I know this is an old menu, but I use your previous year menus with your current ones. I was planning for August and noticed you have ** several recipes on here that do require cooking on “your big day”. Do they mean something different on this menu? (Nuggets, Pepperoni Pizza Sticks, and Jambalaya)
Thanks for all the great work you guys do to make the life of a mom easier. I am hooked on your site!
Welcome Lauren! The ** means there is NO cooking on your big OAMM cooking day. This basically means that those recipes are just “dump recipes” or easily put together and just frozen when you have your big OAMM cooking day. They require no extra effort besides putting the ingredients together and in the bag until you’re ready to enjoy!
I have looked at the instructions for a few of the recipes with the double asterisks (**) and they all say to cook the dish and THEN freeze. For example, the jambalaya recipe says to saute the ingredients in a few separate steps, and then add the rice and cook it, and THEN freeze. I am confused! Can I just dump all the ingredients in a freezer bag and cook together later? If so, do I cook from frozen or thaw first?
Karen, yes the asterisks mean they are no cook recipes. If you look at the recipe cards I believe the freezer instructions say just that, dump in a bag and freeze!
Kelly, the recipe card for the jambalaya (as well as some of ther other ** recipes) says to cook the entire recipe and then freeze – I.e. sauté the veggies, add the rice and cook until done, etc. that’s why I was confused! It doesn’t say anywhere how to freeze it without cooking it first.