Sergeant Pepper

Well, I told you a couple of weeks ago that I would be back with another couscous dish. I aim to please, so here it is. One of my favorite dishes is stuffed peppers. These are so versatile, kind of like a frittata. Take a grain of some sort, add left over veggies or meat, put some cheese in there if you want, bake and you've got a great, healthy meal. I had seen a stuffed peppers recipe that used couscous and thought that was fantastic...so, I cooked up some couscous, used a half bag of leftover frozen broccoli and green beans, some leftover roasted squash and zucchini, added some feta cheese and put all this is a roasted pepper shell. It was super good. I'll be doing this again. Because of all the veggies, this is full of antioxidants so it is perfect for Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Stop by and check out the other great recipes! Although I like to think of couscous as being really good for you, it's only flour that has been mashed together and dried...not that this is BAD for you, it just doesn't have as much nutritional benefit as I THOUGHT it did...so, counteract that by getting whole wheat couscous! :-) As it turns out, this is a staple for Mediterranean nations, especially the African portion. These ladies take hours to make couscous by hand...we, on the other hand, have the benefit of prepared couscous that takes around 5 minutes to prepare...so enjoy this quick, healthy, and easy meal soon! Couscous Stuffed Peppers
2 bell peppers, whatever variety you please
1 cup prepared couscous (use chicken or vegetable broth to prepare it...this makes the flavor SOOOO much better. Couscous made with water is so bland)
1/2 16 oz bag frozen veggies*
1 cup roasted veggies *
1/4 cup feta cheese
parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Cut off the tops of the peppers, then cut them in half lengthwise. Place them in an oven safe baking dish and roast for 15 minutes. To prepare couscous, follow instructions on box - basically boil some broth, put the appropriate amount of couscous in, remove from heat, and let it sit for five minutes...easy as pie! In a bowl, combine the 1 cup couscous, vegetables, and feta cheese. When the peppers are ready, remove the dish from the oven and lower the temperature to 325, stuff the peppers with the couscous mixture and return to the oven for 25 minutes. About 3 minutes before time is up, open the oven, slide the oven rack out, top the peppers with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and return to the oven to brown. Remove and enjoy!

*You can use whatever vegetables you like, but the roasted ones were great. This would also be great with shrimp or even (if you can get it) lamb!