Protein filled Peppers!

     
                                                       Lentil health is Mental health!

Last week, most of us were running around like crazy people in groccery stores trying to stock up on non-perishable foods before Superstorm Sandy. In other words this means buying alcohol, pringles, sour cream and onion chips, peanut butter and jelly and granola bars. If you are like me and my roommate, you also had eaten all of your perishable food thinking that you were definitely going to lose power. However, most of us living around Fordham did not lose power but were stuck with only "snack" foods. Since this is the case, I ate bad food for a whole week straight, with no real protein. To get back on track to a healthy lifestyle, I decided to make lentil and tomato stuffed peppers!

Ingredients:

3 bell peppers (1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow)
1 cup of brown, drained lentils
1/2 cup of thyme leaves
1 quarter chopped onion
1 cup of chopped celery
1 can of diced tomatoes ( I like the Hunts brand that is already made with oregano and basil because it has lots of flavor)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of black pepper
1 cup of low-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp of olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a cooking pan with cooking spray, any kind you prefer. Then cut the stem off the peppers and fish out the seeds. After, put the empty peppers in the oven for about 15-25 minutes so they get softer. In the meantime, slice your celery and put your onions, celery, thyme leaves, lentils and diced tomatoes in a pan and saute with a  little olive oil. Before stuffing the mixture into your peppers, add some salt a pepper. Then scoop it into the peppers and add some shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Yumm!

My favorite thing about stuffed peppers is that you can make all different kinds of stuffing's for them, so they are never boring! I like this one because lentils are filled with protein and the tomatoes and cheese add alot of flavor, without making the meal fattening. I hope you enjoy!