Make-Ahead Meals For When You're Too Tired To Cook

Anyone who has had a baby can relate to the idea of being so tired at the end of the day that you don't want to do a lot of cooking. If this describes you, you should know that lasagna or other pasta casserole dishes are great dishes to make ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze until you need them. They only take a few minutes in the oven to warm up, which is very helpful for those days when you want something good to eat but don't want to spend time cooking. Here are a few make-ahead dishes that are easy to freeze and reheat. They may take a long time to make the first time, but they make a lot and can be used for more than one meal. I do this all the time, and I don't even *have* a baby!

The good thing about casseroles is that you can combine a lot of distinct tastes into one dish and freeze for later. They're a great way to get several of your basic food groups in at one time.

Speaking of casseroles, the name of this one says it all.

Spectacular Chicken-serves 10
3 cups chicken breast, cooked and cut into cubes
1 14.5-oz cans French-cut green beans, drained
1 10.75-oz can condensed cream-of-celery soup
1 4-oz jar diced pimento peppers, drained
3 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 cup wild rice, uncooked
1 cup water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350F

Add water and rice to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until the rice is tender, about 50 minutes.

Once the rice is cooked, combine in a bowl with all of the other ingredients and spread into a 3-quart casserole dish. Bake until heated through, roughly 25-30 minutes.

As I said before, lasagnas are very good "make-aheads". They're very filling so, depending on how many you're feeding, could be stretched over more than one meal.

Chicken Lasagna-serves 6-8
4 cups chicken breast, cooked and chopped
4 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 10.75-oz can condensed cream-of-mushroom soup
1 10.5-oz condensed cream-of-chicken soup
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put a dash of salt in a large pot of water and bring a pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until they are at the desired consistency, about 8-10 minutes. Drain.

Mix the soups, Parmesan, sour cream, onion, garlic salt and mayonnaise in a medium-sized bowl. Lay 3 noodles in a baking dish, add about 1/3 of the chicken, cheese and soup mixture. Do this two more times and top with cheese. Bake for an hour.

As you can see, it's not hard to have satisfying meals in a jiffy when you make a dish ahead of time. Now all you have to do is figure out how to get your older child to stop drawing on the wall. Sorry, you're on your own with that one.