...because we all have our motley moments!


Saturday, August 9, 2008

OAMC: What IS that?

OAMC = Over-Achievers Meet to Cook? Outlandish Activities Moms Create? Optimistic Adventurous Motley Chefs? I like that one!

I am in the throes of planning for a Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) day. This is a biggie, since we have eight families participating and we will all go home with twelve family-size meals...that's 96 meals that will feed four people each...that's 384 individual servings...which means we'll need 17 1/2 cups of chopped onion, 96 boneless, skinless chicken breasts...32 cups of cooked, chopped chicken, 64 pork chops...40 baked potatoes...16 cups shredded cheddar...8 cups of diced ham...13 cups olive oil...and so on, and so on...

It's a bit overwhelming, but once the shopping and prep work is done, my job gets easier (we have eight women assigned to different prep-ahead jobs such as washing and baking 40 potatoes, chopping all those onions, trimming the fat from the fresh chicken breasts, cooking the chicken for the recipes that require cooked chicken, boiling the pasta, boiling, peeling and chopping the eggs, grating fresh ginger...you get the idea).

With all this prep work, our cooking day will consist mostly of assembling our ingredients, bagging and labeling, and cleaning. We'll still have a bit of cooking to do the day of, but we'll have two woks, two electric skillets, four stove top burners, one oven, and several prep stations. Thankfully, we'll be working in a nice, big kitchen (my in-laws' kitchen, currently unoccupied!)...so we won't be interrupting any naptimes or bedtimes on cooking day...yea! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Here is a list of our 12 Meals:

  1. Loaded Stuffed Spuds
  2. Apple Pork Chops
  3. Teriyaki Pork Chops
  4. Chicken Carbonara
  5. Oven Sandwiches
  6. Beef Stroganoff
  7. Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
  8. Sausage-Stuffed Shells
  9. Red River Chicken
  10. Moroccan Chicken
  11. Chicken Tostados
  12. Panko Parmesan Oven-Fried Chicken

Total cost per family: Between $60-$70 (I'll post the total next week when all is said and done, and some pics from OAMC-Day...we cook tomorrow!)

Half of the recipes we chose are chicken recipes, so we wouldn't have to deal with too many different ingredients. In my family, we like to intersperse our OAMC meals with lighter, veggie-bean meals--we don't like meat every night.

The best thing about OAMC is getting all that cooking done in one day in the company of seven other fabulous women! It's actually quite fun! Oh, and not having to stand at the stove every afternoon while my kids destroy the house like a couple of tornadoes...yeah, that rates pretty high for me!

See the post-cooking day follow-up here!

5 comments:

Donna said...

More of my ramblings (I could have added this to my article, but then I'd have to sign in...too much effort):

Apparently OAMC also stands for "Oregon Adventist Men's Chorus"...who knew?

I bet they have no idea how many hits they get from people searching for OAMC recipes. Their site appears on the first page of the google search for "OAMC!"

Or maybe they are just THAT GOOD and millions of people go looking online everyday for that amazing chorus they heard about...it could happen.

:-Donna

Donna said...

And apparently the OAMC is going to Romania in Spring 2009. To support their mission and read more about OAMC (the Oregon Adventist Men's Chorus), go to http://www.oamc.org/default.asp

Yes, the internet sucks me in sometimes.

lol :-Donna

Karly said...

It sounds like an awesome idea and fun too! I wish I were there to participate! I can't wait to hear how it goes. Maybe I will be inspired to start a OAMC club in Connecticut.

Teresa said...

Our cooking day was great! With all of the organization and prep work, this cooking day was our smoothest yet. We were in and out of that kitchen in 4 and a half hours, walking away with coolers full of food!

Rachel said...

What a great cooking day! It was so much fun to spend the afternoon chatting with such amazing women while doing something so productive! I have my dinners planned for the next month (I even added the side dishes to my calendar so I would be ready when I go to the grocery store!) and everything is so easy to prepare.

Yes, Teresa, this was very smooth and incredibly organized--thank you so much Donna for all of your hard work!