Hot And Cold A Variety Of Healthy Dishes Can Be Made Ahead Of Time For Busy Families

With school starting again, life becomes even more complicated. Not only do you have to manage your own routine, but now there are kids to pack off to school and after-school activities to arrange. Not to mention that your significant other is on an entirely different work - and play - schedule than you are.

How can you possibly plan meals or find time to prepare them? The old standbys - fat-filled cheesy and beefy lasagna, calorie-laden tuna casserole made with cream of anything soup, egg-rich and ham-studded quiche - just don’t seem right anymore.

Instead, you want healthier dishes you can make ahead. And you want things that can be eaten hot, at room temperature or easily reheated when your significant other comes in from work two hours after you ate and an hour after you fed your child who had football practice.

Following are a few recipes for the way we cook today - healthfully, in shifts, and sometimes not at all.

Some tips for making simple meals ahead of time:

Buy foil casserole pans. Use minipans to freeze foods in two-portion quantities. You can tuck a minipan into a 1-quart zip-seal plastic freezer bag for freezer storage.

Freeze individual portions in sandwich-sized zip-seal plastic freezer bags. Items such as the Italian Chicken Roll can be frozen for an hour on a baking sheet and transferred individually into separate freezer bags to use as needed.

For small families, you can make a recipe that serves six, such as the Turkey-Chili Enchiladas. Cook two servings tonight, refrigerate two uncooked portions in a minicasserole aluminum foil pan for later in the week and freeze two uncooked servings for sometime in the future.

If you are planning to freeze a casserole in a large baking dish, you may want to line the dish with aluminum foil. When the food is frozen solid, you can remove it in a chunk and place in a zip-seal bag. You’ll have your pan back and the food will take up less freezer space.

In general, casseroles keep in the freezer for up to two months. Of course, the sooner you use them the better they will taste.

If baking a dish straight from the freezer, preheat the oven as soon as you get home from work. About an hour to 90 minutes later, dinner will be ready. You have time to take a bath, open the mail or help with homework.

Vegetable Lasagna

Cooked portions can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in the microwave or eaten at room temperature. If lasagna has been baked and frozen in individual servings, it can be defrosted and reheated in the microwave oven.

2 eggs

2 cups low-fat cream-style cottage cheese

1 (15-ounce) container reduced fat and calorie ricotta cheese

1-1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning, crushed

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped ( cup)

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 to 1 teaspoon black pepper

1-1/4 cups skim milk

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach or chopped broccoli, thawed and thoroughly drained

1 medium carrot, shredded (1/2 cup)

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (3 ounces)

Salt, to taste

9 oven-ready lasagna noodles

1 (8-ounce) package shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (2 cups)

3/4 cup commercially prepared marinara sauce

In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs slightly; stir in cottage cheese, ricotta and Italian seasoning. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the margarine over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onions and garlic; cook until tender. Stir in the flour and pepper; add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir for 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach or broccoli, carrots, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and salt.

To assemble, in a greased 9- by 13-inch baking dish, layer 1/3 of the spinach and then 1/3 of the noodles. Spread with 1/2 the cottage cheese mixture, and then 1/3 of the spinach. Top with 1/2 the mozzarella, another 1/3 of the noodles, the rest of the cottage cheese mixture, the rest of the mozzarella, the rest of the noodles, the rest of the spinach, the marinara sauce and finish with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. (Alternatively, this can be made in three aluminum foil lasagna minipans.)

To refrigerate: Cover unbaked lasagna with foil and chill for up to 48 hours. To freeze: Wrap unbaked lasagna tightly with aluminum foil and label. Freeze no longer than two months. Or, you can freeze the baked lasagna in one-portion sizes.

To serve now, bake, uncovered, in a 350-degreee oven about 35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

To serve from refrigerator, bake, covered, in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 to 35 minutes more or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

To serve from freezer, if lasagna has not been baked before, about 2 hours before serving, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the lasagna in covered pan 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 35 to 45 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 283 calories, 20 grams protein, 11 grams fat (35 percent fat calories), 27 grams carbohydrate, 59 milligrams cholesterol, 458 milligrams sodium.

Turkey-Chili Enchiladas

From “Betty Crocker’s Do-Ahead Cookbook” (MacMillan). Once baked, these can easily be reheated in the microwave and even taste good at room temperature.

2 cups chopped cooked turkey or chicken

1-1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)

1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese

1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained

3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

7 (fajita-size) flour tortillas

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup prepared salsa

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Grease a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish (or use smaller dishes if serving some now and freezing or refrigerating some for later use). Mix turkey, 1 cup Cheddar cheese, ricotta cheese, onions, chiles and coriander. Spoon about 1/2 cup of mixture onto center of each tortilla; roll tortilla around turkey mixture. Place seam side down in dish. In a nonreactive bowl, mix tomato sauce, salsa, cilantro, chili powder and cumin. (Alternatively, you can put two enchiladas in each of three aluminum foil minicasserole pans.)

To refrigerate, prepare recipe to this point and store in refrigerator by covering baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and covering tomato sauce separately; refrigerate no longer than 48 hours.

To freeze, pour the tomato mixture over the tortillas. Wrap baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and freeze no longer than 2 months.

To serve now, heat oven to 350 degrees. Pour tomato sauce mixture over tortillas. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered about 10 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.

To serve from refrigerator, heat oven to 350 degrees about 1 hour before serving. Pour tomato sauce mixture over tortillas. Re-cover and bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered about 15 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.

To serve from freezer, heat oven to 375 degrees about 1 hour before serving. Bake in covered pan 45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.

Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 410 calories, 33 grams protein, 18 grams fat (40 percent fat calories), 29 grams carbohydrate, 86 milligrams cholesterol, 587 milligrams sodium.

Italian Chicken Rolls

From “Betty Crocker’s Do-Ahead Cookbook” (MacMillan). Once baked, these are good at room temperature or can be reheated in the oven.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)

2 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese (2-1/2 ounces), cut in half

4 thin slices pastrami, ham or turkey ham

1/3 cup Italian-style dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fine-chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup skim milk

Grease an 8- by 8- by 2-inch baking dish. Place chicken pieces flat on cutting board. Cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Flatten each chicken breast to a 1/2-to 1/4-inch thickness by pounding with a meat mallet or other heavy object. Remove paper or plastic.

Place 1 piece cheese and 1 slice pastrami or ham on each chicken piece. Fold long sides of each chicken piece in over meat. Roll up chicken from short side; secure with toothpick.

Mix bread crumbs, cheese and parsley. Dip chicken rolls into milk; coat evenly with bread crumb mixture. Place seam sides down in pan.

To serve now, heat oven to 425 degrees. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

To freeze, freeze unbaked chicken rolls uncovered for about 1 hour or until firm. Wrap tightly (can put individually into sandwich-size zip-seal plastic bags, or a number can be put in larger bags). Freeze no longer than 2 months.

To serve from freezer, heat oven to 375 degrees about 1-1/4 hours before serving. Bake uncovered about 50 minutes or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 313 calories, 45 grams protein, 10 grams fat (29 percent fat calories), 7 grams carbohydrate, 119 milligrams cholesterol, 461 milligrams sodium.