Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces vegetable or chicken broth
• ½ cup shredded carrot
• ¼ cup chopped red onion
• 1 teaspn olive oil
• ¾ cup bulgar
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 large sweet green bell peppers, halved and seeded
• ¾ cup shredded mozzarella
• ½ cup water
• 1/8 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Sautee carrot and onion in a hot saucepan with olive oil until onions are lightly browned. Add broth and bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Stir in the bulgar and cranberries, and remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, drain off excess liquid. Stir cheese into bulgar mixture and spoon evenly into pepper halves. Place pepper halves in skillet (stuffed side up!). Add the ½ cup water to bottom of skillet and bring to boiling. Once boiling, reduce heat, simmer covered for 5 to 10 minutes or until peppers are tender but still crisp.

To serve: Sprinkle with an additional bit of mozzarella and then the pecans

Notes:

• Green bell peppers can be substituted for color of choice.
• You can tell a bell pepper is sweet if it has 4 lobes, the 3 lobed ones are spicier.
• Cranberries can also be substituted for dried cherries or raisins.
• Pecans can be substituted for sliced almonds.

Suggestions:
With Stuffed Peppers as a main dish, the Mediterranean Quinoa Salad makes an excellent complement as a side dish. To make a complete meal, serve fresh pita and hummus as an appetizer!