School is starting up for another year, and I’ll once again be overseeing the Screaming Avocado Café at Northwestern Secondary School in Stratford, Ont., where I teach. That gives me access to healthy and delicious lunches: Whether it’s lean braised rabbit and olives in white wine, Moroccan chicken with couscous or vegetarian lasagna prepared using fresh hand-rolled noodles made by my students, the daily selection is full of health and variety, and is easily accessible.

Not everyone is as lucky when it comes to lunches at the workplace. My wife, Amanda, who is also a chef and teacher, has to plan ahead—like many working moms—to have meals she can take to work that are nutritious and easily transportable. The staff room at the school where she works offers the same “cooking” equipment of many other employee lunchrooms: a microwave. That’s why I thought it would be helpful for BH readers if I designed all of these recipes to work either as a meal to eat at home or to reheat the next day at work—the key is that they retain their flavour.