stuffed peppers

3-5 bell peppers
1/2 c brown rice (or half brown and half wild)
1/2 c lentils
2 c water
1 sm-med chopped onion
1 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp italian herb seasoning blend
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin

1.5 cans diced tomatoes (with juice)
@2 c broth

in addition to above spices:
some dried onion flakes 1 T
some italian seasoning  1 tsp
some garlic powder 1/2 tsp
s&p to taste

Bring water to boil, add lentils and rice and cook @30 minutes till water is
about absorbed, and everything is just undercooked.
heat oil over med. and add onions.  cook about 2 min. and add garlic and cook
for another minute.  Add lentils and rice to pan and stir.  Add spices and stir.

Add tomatoes, broth, additional spices to a baking dish (for 3 peppers I used a
deep pie dish) and stir.

Open the tops and clean out the peppers.  Fill with lentil mixture till just
heaping.  Place carefully upright in tomato bath.  Bake at 350 for about an
hour (maybe 1 hr. 15 min), basting the lentil/rice mix with the tomato
juice/broth every 15 minutes.

To serve, add a couple of serving spoons full of tomatoes and juice to a pepper
in a bowl.  cut up the pepper and stir well.  Add s & p to taste.

GK's notes:  This is the way I've done this since I invented it, but the last time I did it, I cut the peppers in half and filled the halves and laid them stuffing side up in a bigger dish.  It took less time to cook, and with sides, served more people.  Usually I serve just the peppers, because with all the onions, tomatoes, peppers, lentils and rice, it makes a complete meal, imnsho.

New note:  I AM the ultimate lazy cook.  You can also just chop up the peppers, and dump all of this in a big pot and cook it, covered, on medium low for an hour, and it turns out great!  I call the new version stuffed pepper casserole!  Lol!  Cause giving it a name makes it its own official recipe, right, instead of the lazybone's version of another recipe?  =P

yummy sandwich

So today, the chitlin asked for one of his favorite sandwiches.  I didn't have everything we needed, so I improvised.  It wasn't so good.  He ate it happily, but I won't be making that sub again, I tell you.  To salve my conscience, y'all can have the recipe for the correct sandwich.  It's not like it's hard to make or anything, but it is yummy, so you should have one.  Go on.  I'll wait.
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Oh, I guess I should give you the recipe.  Fine.

2 slices bread
@ 1/4 a regular sized avocado (we had a monster one today--and have a ton of it left over!)
1-2 T hummus, any flavor (we like the roasted garlic)
1-2 slices fresh, ripe tomato
seasoned salt, mrs. dash...something like this.  mrs. dash is an excellent choice, unless you have an orange allergy.  anyway, use this to taste.

Smoosh the avocado and spread it on one slice of bread.  Spread the hummus on the other slice.  Sprinkle your seasoning of choice over one of your spreads.  Lay some tomato on and close the sandwich.  That's it!
It's so easy, but so yummy! 

The chitlin loves them so much--if it was up to him, it would just be avocado and tomato sandwiches, though.  I just feel the need to put a little protein in there.  Which led to my mistake today.  We were out of hummus, so I mashed up some red beans and used them.  Don't do that.  Really.  As I said, he didn't seem to mind, and scarfed his right down.  Which he also does with the hummus ones, even after he's actually asked for an avocado and tomato sandwich.  Which suggests his taste buds are...undiscriminating.  But we know that isn't true, or he'd like fruit better.  =P