Right now, the weather seems to be alternating between very, very wet and very, very cold here in my part of the Pacific Northwest, making the perfect time for homemade soup. My middle son picked the New York Times’ Slow Cooker Lentil Soup with Sausage and Greens. Given that my oldest son could exist almost solely on lentil soup, I figure this one might be a hit.

This was incredibly easy to prepare because I took the simpler option of only browning the sausage, and not the garlic, onions and spices. In making a double batch, because, well, teenagers, I used an entire bag of Costco’s organic power greens, rather than the five cups of greens per batch as stated in the recipe. To avoid added fat, I used Italian turkey sausage, instead of pork. Finally, I used red lentils instead of black beluga because that was what was available, and I had to half the chicken stock and add water because I ran short of stock.

I think it turned out well. However, in the future, I will add potatoes to the recipe to add more substance to the soup for the growing, therefore consistently ravenous, younger members of my family.