Quinoa and lentil stuffed peppers

Prep: 30 minutes Cook: 1 hour Makes: 6 servings

Depending on the size of the peppers, you’ll likely have 1 or 2 cups of filling leftover. Save it for another occasion and serve it warm over slices of grilled eggplant or chopped romaine lettuce leaves. 6 large, nicely shaped red, orange or yellow bell peppers (or a combination), about 3 pounds 3 tablespoons olive oil ½ medium red onion, chopped 2 cups cooked red quinoa and lentils, see recipe 1 cup cooked white or brown rice (or more quinoa and lentils) 1 ⁄2 cup dark raisins, or chopped ripe apricot, pear or tart apple ¼ cup pine nuts or slivered almonds 2 tablespoons za’atar spice 1 teaspoon each: salt, ground cumin ½ teaspoon ground sumac or grated lime rind ¼ teaspoon each: crushed red pepper flakes, freshly ground black pepper 4 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped (or half of an 8-ounce bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, about 1 cup) 3 green onions, trimmed, thinly sliced ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint 1 jar (18 ounces) tomato sauce 1 Cut tops off peppers about a quarter of the way down the pepper. Use a grapefruit spoon to remove the core and membranes inside. Shake out all the seeds. Put hollowed-out peppers and lids into a microwave-safe baking dish. Add ¼ cup water; cover with plastic wrap vented at one corner and microwave on high until crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Cool. (Refrigerate covered up to 3 days.) 2 Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add onion. Cook until golden, about 4 minutes. 3 Stir in quinoa mixture, rice (if using), raisins, pine nuts, 1 tablespoon of the za’atar spice, salt, ½ teaspoon of the cumin, sumac, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Stir in spinach, onions, cilantro and mint. 4 Mix tomato sauce with remaining 1 tablespoon za’atar spice and ½ teaspoon cumin. 5 Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stuff each pepper tightly with a generous portion of the quinoa mixture. Pour tomato sauce into the bottom of a baking dish large enough to hold the peppers snugly. Stand the stuffed peppers upright in the baking dish. Place the tops of the peppers in place. 6 Bake until peppers are tender, 45 to 50 minutes. Serve with spoonfuls of the tomato sauce.

Nutrition information per serving: 247 calories, 8 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 38 g carbohydrates, 15 g sugar, 8 g protein, 582 mg sodium, 8 g fiber