I am all about the stuffed anything: bell peppers, in this case, or avocados, or tomatoes.  I love the concept of using something edible as a container for a nutritious meal; it also helps with portion control (a useful tool when my eyes are bigger than my stomach!).

These stuffed bell peppers came to me one night when I had a handful of veggies that I didn't quite know what to do with--about 3/4 cup chickpeas and a handful of mushrooms leftover from my Chickpea & Mushroom Salad, a forgotten chunk of frozen kale, and half a jar of capers.  I was once again flipping through the New Vegetarian cookbook when I stumbled across a recipe for stuffed bell peppers.  I didn't have the tomatoes or olives that the original recipe called for, but I did have bell peppers and my random collection of food odds and ends.  Thus a new dish was born.  You can eat it on its own or serve it on a bed of lettuce--either way is delish!

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

3/4 cup chickpeas

5-6 mushrooms, finely chopped

1/4 cup capers

1/4 sun-dried tomatoes (re-hydrated)

3/4 cup kale, finely chopped

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 oregano sprigs, leaves finely chopped

Olive oil

Preheat ovenr 350 degrees.  Slice bell pepper in half longwise, removing seeds and stem.  Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl.  Once fully combined, stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil and mix thoroughly.  Spoon the filling evenly into each bell pepper half.  Drizzle with more olive oil and set on pan.  Cook in oven for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before eating.  Serves 2 as a light meal.  Enjoy!