October Ground Turkey, Squash & Lentil Soup: have dinner prepared for days!

Here is my Halloween soup! My rainy-windy-cold-need to heat the house and tummy kind of soup. This soup has a beautiful orange-yellow color and is thick because of the lentils and squash. The lentils, which are very small and pink, become puree just by cooking them. This soup is overall very hearty and great for a chilly autumn day. I actually made this soup to heat up my house. I started cooking it at 1pm and finished at 6pm. Not as hard as it sounds though! I cooked the chicken bones for several hours in the soup water to flavor it and add lots of nutrients. Makes about 4- 4 1/2 quarts of soup

Ingredients:
rain
wind
cold house
hungry family
lots of fall vegetables
noodles or rice
Halloween quickly approaching
urge to have an easy dinner on hand for several days in a row (or lunch or breakfast)

You'll need:
4 1/2 quarts water
MEAT
1 pound ground turkey
1-2 chickens (without meat, leftover from another meal, you can freeze the bones and use them later)
VEGETABLES
1/2 winter squash, peeled seeded and chopped small
5 carrots
3 celery
2 red onion
8 very small red and white potatoes (1"x 1" or so) or make up for bigger size by using fewer
2 head broccoli: chop stems and separate from heads
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
5 cloves garlic
LEGUMES:
3 cups of the small pink lentils
HERBS:
sprig of rosemary, thyme, and two bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste (or soy sauce)

I separate ingredients by how long they take to cook so start by cooking the chicken carcasses for 2-4 hours in a 5 quart soup pan with 4 quarts of water. Cook it on low heat so that it is simmering slowly. Add sprig of Rosemary, thyme, salt and two bay leaves. Cook until 1- 1 1/2 hours before dinner, then strain out bones and add below ingredients (chopped to approx the same size):
squash
onion
carrot
celery
lentils
potatoes
broccoli stems (save the tree tops for later)

Cook above ingredients until soft then add (approx 15 mins before din din). Also, if you are cooking noodles, begin now. Noodles are a great addition to this meal!

broccoli heads (chopped small)
mushrooms (sliced)
garlic, pressed or thinly chopped
ground turkey, formed into small balls

Cook at a simmer for 15-20 minutes, or unitl ingredients are tender, and in the case of the turkey, cooked all the way through!

Allow time for the soup to cool before serving.

Above: Soup with noodles and Mr. Mobley's tahini sauce

The noodles were a hit for both kids, as was the soup!