Let us know how the recipe turns out, Skeptic.

For lunch on Wednesday, I made lentil-vegetable-barley soup. I used water, left over from cooking potatoes, and frozen a couple of weeks ago. I used carrots, onion, celery, and garlic that I first sautéed in a bit of olive oil. I used 1 tsp. of Penzey’s Ozark blend to season. (I think that it came in a gift box, so I look for ways to use it.) I had some kale that I needed to use, so I cut up those leaves and added it about ten minutes from the end. It’s a delicious soup, although a bit salty, since I forgot that I had salted the potato water. If I’d remembered, I would have used a salt-free seasoning blend.

Wednesday night dinner is Spaghetti Squash-Turkey Casserole—a recipe that I discovered and adapted last year. Think of it as a kind of lasagna that uses spaghetti squash rather than noodles. I had to start early because I make my own sauce, although it is from canned tomatoes due to our disappointing tomato crop this year. Then the spaghetti squash must be roasted for an hour, cooled slightly, and scooped out. In the meantime, I brown ground turkey, and add some chopped onion, a bit more garlic, and optional red bell pepper (because I have it!), then mix in the sauce. I layer it in a lasagna pan, put 4 oz. of diced mozzarella on top, grate some Parmesan over it, then bake for 30 minutes. I try to keep my husband from cutting into it for a standing time of 20 minutes.

On Thursday afternoon, I’m making broth, using the remains of a turkey breast from the freezer and the rotisserie chicken we had last week. It will definitely be soup weather this weekend.