Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

• Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is homestyle cooking, just for two, and a meal in itself: meat, starch, and vegetable all in one gorgeous package. And it’s an especially good way to use up leftover cooked rice. In fact, I often cook extra brown rice (more nutritious than white rice) to use later in the week for these peppers. For a vegetarian dish, omit the sausage and increase the Italian seasoning to ½ teaspoon.

makes 2 servings (2 halves each)

• 2 medium red or yellow bell peppers
• 1 cup cooked brown or white rice
• 4 ounces gluten-free sweet Italian sausage (1 link), browned, drained, and finely chopped or crumbled
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• ¼ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/16 teaspoon (pinch) crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• ⅛ teaspoon (dash) freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup (1 ounce) shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese or cheese alternative
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley

1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch square microwave- and oven-safe baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Halve each pepper lengthwise, from stem to base, leaving the stems on for a prettier presentation but removing the vein and seeds. Place the pepper halves in the baking dish, cut sides up. Cover with waxed paper and cook in the microwave on High for 5 minutes to soften. Remove the dish from the microwave and let the peppers cool while making the filling.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the rice, sausage, tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Stuff each pepper half with ½ cup of the filling, mounding it to fit if necessary.

4. Cover the dish with foil and bake until the filling is heated through, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the peppers with cheese, and bake until the peppers are heated through and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve, garnished with the basil.

Per serving: 405 calories; 15g protein; 23g total fat; 5g fiber; 36g carbohydrates; 56mg cholesterol; 752mg sodium