Less work, more eating

Labor Day - when the workers of the world get to celebrate and rest - usually means a busy, tiring, labor-intensive weekend for the cooks of the family - us! Our fun-loving husbands think it's great to have folks over to celebrate the long weekend, and invitations flow fast. We're left to feed the hungry hoards as they come and go.

So this Labor Day we're putting our heads together to come up with our favorite "labor-saving" ingredients, and we plan to employ as many as we can.

In no particular order, our favorites this year are:

• Already-boiled eggs. (They save time on homemade potato salad and deviled eggs. Find them in packages in the deli, the refrigerated section of the supermarket, or on the salad bar.)

• Peeled fresh garlic. (When you're harried, every little thing helps. Now available in smaller jars, so waste is not a concern. Usually found in produce.)

• Refrigerated (not frozen) rolled piecrust dough. (The updated crusts have no seam to seal, and everyone still asks for our pie-dough recipe! Usually found in dairy.)

• Rotisserie chicken (makes quick work of hearty entree salads perfect for lunch or a light dinner).

• Already-shredded cabbage. (The package's recipe is perfectly fine for traditional slaw, but this great ingredient will work in everything from your own slaw recipe to other salads and even stir-fries.)

• No-cook noodles for lasagna. (One step removed from the labor-intensive job of making lasagna. Recipes abound. Just be sure to have plenty of sauce to prevent a dry casserole.)

• Crock Pot liner bags. (Beverly swears by these beauties, which make cleanup a breeze. Found alongside plastic food-storage bags.)

• Microsteam bags. (These ingenious bags provide easy, no-fail steaming of fresh vegetables in the microwave without dirtying a dish. Found alongside plastic food-storage bags. Some vegetables in the produce section also come in microsteam bags.)

• EZ-peel shrimp, already-peeled and already-steamed shrimp. (No matter what your recipe calls for, there's an easier, quicker shrimp ready for you. EZ-peel is the newest category. The shell is split, the shrimp is deveined, and, with the flip of a finger, the shell comes off.)

Today's recipe is the last of our labor-saving secrets. Shrimp Dijon Pasta Salad with Asparagus is a great-tasting, quick and easy recipe that will feed a crowd of people in a snap. Only the labor-saving cook needs to know it takes 20 minutes.

Suggested menu: Shrimp Dijon Pasta Salad with Asparagus with fresh berries and hearty Italian bread.

• Write Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross at Desperation Dinners, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. Or visit www.desperationdinners.com.