Cottage pie is beef; shepherd’s pie is lamb. This version swaps about half the ground beef for cooked lentils. The sauce carries most of the flavor anyway, so the lentils barely change the eating experience.

This soup can be made with pretty much whatever veggies you have lying around. If you skip the beets, you’ll have a hard time convincing anyone it’s borsch. The nitrites in celery help preserve things, so don’t skip the celery. Borsch tastes even better after a couple or three days in the fridge.