Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Slice bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove stems, seeds, and piths. Place peppers cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until desired doneness is reached.
3. Line a large plate with a couple of layers of paper towels.
4. Cook ground beef and red onion together in large sautee pan on medium high heat.
5. Remove ground beef mixture to paper towel-lined plate to drain excess fat.
6. Cook diced potato in remaining beef fat (add extra oil if needed) on medium high heat for 7 minutes or until browned.
7. Add 1/4-1/2 cup water to the pan, cover, and steam potatoes to finish cooking for 5 minutes or until fork tender (you may be able to skip this step if you dice the potatoes finely! I usually aim for cubes about twice the size of a lentil so they really blend in with the ground beef mixture.).
8. While potatoes are cooking, mix together all optional spices plus salt and pepper in a small bowl. (Although the peppers taste awesome with these extra spices, I have to admit sometimes on a VERY busy weeknight I omit these and the final product still turns out great!)
9. Mix together all condiments in a small mixing bowl. Add extra of any of the condiments to adjust taste to your liking.
10. Once potatoes are fork tender, add lentils and beef and onion mixture to the pan and mix.
11. Add spice mixture and condiments to the beef mixture and cook on medium until the entire mixture is heated through.
12. Load beef mixture into bell pepper halves and top each half with shredded cheese.
13. Switch oven to broil and place bell peppers back in oven for 1-2 minutes or just until cheese is melted and slightly browned. ENJOY!