February is awards-viewing month, and I am always looking for an entree that would please everyone at my viewing party.

While there is much in the news suggesting that a plant-based diet will lengthen ones longevity. I'm not ready to give up my love of meat, fish and poultry just yet. However, I have been playing around with different dishes that feature beans and vegetables.

I developed a boldly flavored lentil stew punctuated with bits of velvety squash (you can find peeled, diced squash in your market), sweet balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme leaves. I also love adding smoked turkey sausage, but you can choose whatever cooked sausage you like.

Lentils, often grouped as a bean, are in fact in the family of dried legumes. One of their Seriously Simple attributes is that there is no soaking required. There are many varieties of lentils, including brown lentils, green lentils, orange lentils and French lentils, but I have found multicolored lentils that cook relatively quickly and are simply delicious in this stew.

If you want, you can separate this into two different casseroles, one with sausage and one without. If you are going to serve this for a viewing party, I like to arrange lots of fresh vegetables, cheeses, crackers and a couple of dips on the table along with some sparkling wine.

Lentil Stew with Butternut Squash

Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

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