A Celebration Dinner

To celebrate my sister moving into her first apartment, we made this meal together for our family. On the left, we have some yummy curry couscous- stuffed peppers. Black beans and a green salad round out this dinner in a most delicious way. The makings for the couscous was inspired by the recipe for "fruited couscous" from Nava Atlas's wonderful book, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. I changed it slightly so I could publish it here:
You'll need:
* 3-5 medium or large size bell peppers, any color (try to get ones with relatively flat bottoms)
* About 2 cups cooked whole wheat couscous
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/2 cup minced onion
* 1/2 cup chopped apple, peeled
* handful of raisins
* handful of dried apricots, chopped in small pieces
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* orange juice, as needed to moisten
* handful of almonds, roughly chopped
* salt, to taste
Begin by heating the olive oil over medium heat in a small saute pan. Add the onion and cook until it is soft. Meanwhile, slice the tops off the peppers and scoop out the seeds. Don't throw away the tops. Next, mix together the remaining ingredients, including the cooked onion, in a large mixing bowl. Add enough orange juice to moisten the mixture, about 4 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. Fill the peppers with the couscous, almost to the top. Replace the tops on the peppers and place them in a baking dish. Add about 3 tablespoons of water in the bottom of the dish and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, until the peppers are tender.
My Favorite Black Beans:
These beans go perfectly with the stuffed peppers, being a nice savory complement to the sweet couscous.
* 2 15-OZ cans black beans, drained of about 70% of the liquid
* 1 bay leaf
* A couple pinches cayenne pepper
* 2-3 teaspoons Braggs liquid aminos
* 2 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
In a medium-size sauce pan, heat the oil and garlic over medium heat, about 1 minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf before serving.