Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

My husband is one of six children,  He grew up with multiple cousins of various generations all living on his street.  His house was always the one where everyone gathered, consequently, his mother was always cooking for a small army.  Making potatoes meant peeling a mound of spuds that made Kilimanjaro look like a molehill.  A pot of spaghetti sauce in that house would dwarf any one of the Great Lakes.  There was no such thing as a small meal.

I, on the other hand, grew up in a much smaller family, with no relatives at all in town after my grandparents passed away. A head of lettuce meant salads for dinner, and lettuce on your sandwiches all week.  Five people? Five burgers. Five baked potatoes. One tray of pizza.  With leftovers.

When we first got married, my husband didn’t quite understand why there wasn’t a giant bowl of meatballs in the fridge every week, along with enough cheese to clog every artery in a five mile radius.

Um, cause there are two of us?

I like to think that we have learned to compromise over the years, but what has actually happened is that I have been brainwashed into thinking that unless it takes a running start and 4000 pounds of pressure per square inch to close the fridge after a trip to the grocery store, we are in danger of starving to death, and everyone visiting will need to make a McDonald’s run after dinner before their blood sugar drops to a dangerous low.

Hence, the obscene amount of peppers I found myself in possession of last week. Along with a bunch of other food.

We had family staying with us, and so I set off for the grocery store with my list.  I took one of the smaller, two-tiered carts, and began loading it up.  And loading it up.  And loading it up.  About halfway through my little excursion, the store manager approached, looked the cart over, and commented, “I didn’t know those carts could hold that much.”

As I wound my way through the aisles, I’m pretty sure I saw a few mothers push their children behind them to avoid being crushed by the avalanche of groceries that was threatening to fall every time I turned a corner. When I finally reached the checkout, the guy took one look at me, grabbed his microphone and, with no small amount of panic in his eyes, announced,” Produce to the front. Produce to the front.”  His second look had him paging frozen foods, baked goods, pharmacy, dairy, the police, the fire department and the Royal Mounties. You’d think they’d never seen anyone feeding a platoon before.

Anyway, three hours later, I arrived home with a car filled to the rafters with all kinds of yummy things, including a rainbow of peppers that I had to figure out what to do with.  I decided on stuffed peppers, but I wanted to change it up from my other recipe and really bump up the protein.  Here is what I came up with…..

Ingredients:

• 1 cup puy (French green) lentils, rinsed and sorted
• 1/3 cup multi-color quinoa
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 cup of vegetable broth, plus more as needed
• 2 cups diced sweet onion
• 2/3 cup diced sweet or spicy pepper (I recommend way less than 2/3 cup if you are going spicy) I used shishito, which are sweet
• 3 Tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 Tablespoons dried basil
• 4 cups diced roma tomatoes (you can also use canned, which is 2-3 cans depending on the size of the cans)
• 1 (5oz) tube of tomato paste
• 8 peppers of assorted colors

Directions:

1. Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the core and seeds.  Par-cook the peppers a bit to soften them, either by microwaving them for about 4 minutes or boiling them.
2. Put the lentils in a pot with the garlic, add 2 cups of water and cook until just tender, but not soft , 30-40 minutes. Cook the quinoa in the cup of vegetable broth, until light and fluffy (about 15-20 minutes)
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350.
4. In a large saucepan, splash a bit of oil and saute the onion and diced peppers over medium heat till slightly softened (about 5 minutes).  Add the oregano and basil and saute for 30 seconds- 1 minute, till just fragrant.  Add the tomatoes, and turn the heat down to low.  Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, till tomatoes break down and mixture resembles a thick sauce.
5. Add the tomato paste and stir well to combine.  When the lentils and quinoa are cooked, add them to the pan.  If the mixture is too dry, you can add any of the cooking liquid that is left over from either the lentils or quinoa, or an additional splash of the vegetable broth.  The mixture should be moist, but not runny. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Stuff the mixture into the peppers and bake 20-30 minutes till peppers are tender, but not mushy, and filling is heated through.  You can sprinkle vegan cheese on top for the last 5 minutes and let it melt if you’d like.

Enjoy!