Labor Day, when the workers of the world get to celebrate and rest, usually means a labor-intensive weekend for the cooks in the family -- us! Our husbands love to have folks over to celebrate the long weekend, and invitations flow fast. We're left to feed the hungry hoards.

We've put our heads together to list of our favorite ''labor-saving'' ingredients, and we plan to employ as many as we can. In no particular order, they are:

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

• Peeled garlic cloves: When you're harried, every little thing helps. Now available in smaller jars to minimize waste, they're usually found in produce.

• Refrigerated piecrust dough: The updated crusts have no seam to seal, and everyone still asks for our recipe! Usually found in dairy.

• Rotisserie chicken: Makes quick work of entree salads for lunch or a light dinner.

• Already-shredded cabbage: Besides slaw, use them in other salads and even stir-fries.

• No-cook lasagne noodles: One less step in a labor-intensive job. Just be sure to have plenty of sauce to prevent a dry lasagne.

• 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. Also found alongside food-storage bags. (Some vegetables in the produce section also come in microsteam bags.)

• EZ-peel shrimp: The shell is split, the shrimp is deveined and, with the flip of a finger, the shell comes off. We're also fans of already-peeled and already-steamed shrimp. No matter your recipe, there's a shortcut crustacean ready to help.

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 only takes 20 minutes.

Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross' latest book is Cheap. Fast. Good! Their website is desperationdinners.com.

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