Couscous Pilaf Salad

I have been horribly neglectful of this poor little blog. But I have a good excuse. So while I have been doing a lot of eating, I've lacked the energy to take pictures and post. But I found this recipe in my old binder, made it, consumed a lot of it, and had to share it. This is courtesy of my friend Catherine.

Ingredients:

1 box of Near East Couscous

1 1/3 c. and 2 T. vegetable stock (or chicken stock)

1 T. canola or olive oil

1 onion chopped (yellow or spanish)

2 T. cider vinegar

1 T. curry powder

1 t. brown sugar

1/2 t. each of salt, cumin and cinnamon

1 c. fresh or frozen peas

1/2 c. diced red or green peppers

1/3 c. chickpeas

1/4 c. raisins (optional)

2 T. sliced almonds (optional)

Directions:

Follow the directions on the box of couscous and use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water to cook the couscous in.

In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, remaining stock, curry powder, brown sugar, salt, cumin and cinnamon. Mix. Add in all vegetables and optional mixings and cook through. Add to couscous and toss gently. Can be served hot or cold.

My Recommendations:

To make this recipe more kid friendly, you can cut down on the amount of curry powder. My two don't eat this even if I leave out the curry powder all together, so I always add the full amount. You can also add any vegetable you would like such as broccoli or cauliflower. Lastly, I always tweak the amounts of chickpeas, peas and almonds, putting in more chickpeas and almonds and less peas.