Sleep On It: Prepare Delicious Meals the Night Before That You Can Pop in the Oven the Next Day!

Gordon, who operates the Nantucket House of Chatham, an inn on Cape Cod, has gathered an eclectic, unbalanced collection of 150 recipes contributed by inn and bed and breakfast owners from around the world. Organized by course and designed to provide good-tasting meals with minimal preparation, the recipes are what Gordon calls "overnight recipes": they produce meals that can be entirely or partially made in advance and refrigerated overnight. Making meals this way is the ultimate time-saver, she claims. But the time saving actually comes more as a result of the simplicity of the recipes or because of the ready-made ingredients used: frozen diced potatoes for Never-Fail Hash Browns, Raisin Bran cereal in Six-Week Raisin Bran Muffins, and refrigerated crescent rolls for Sausage Puff. The do-ahead capability allows for more time control, essential in the bed and breakfast industry and also worthwhile to the busy home cook. A few recipes may sacrifice taste for ease, but most provide a happy medium of simplicity and good flavor. (Mar.)