Peppers and Portabellas Stuffed with Lentils and Brown Rice

As I said in a previous post, I don’t eat much meat.  But, lately I have been wanting some stuffed peppers – just without the ground meat.  I decided to cook some green lentils with a brown rice medley I purchased at Trader Joe’s.  I had some tomato sauce left over from a meal of pasta.  The end result was so tasty, I figured I’d share. I browned 1 cup of the rice medley along with some minced garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil until the rice glistened (similar to how risotto glistens) and the garlic was sweat, then I added about a tablespoon each of ground cumin, coriander and turmeric.  After that was cooked a bit, I added 1 cup of lentils (which had been already washed and sorted through) and about 2 ½ cups of water (I think vegetable broth would also be good).  I simmered this until the rice and lentils were cooked, leaving them a bit moist. 

Once they were cooked, I cleaned my peppers and portabellas, placed them on a lightly oiled baking pan and stuffed them with the rice and lentil mixture, topped them with the tomato sauce and sprinkled them with parmesan cheese.  I baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes – until the peppers and mushrooms were cooked but still firm and the cheese melted.