Israeli Couscous Citrus Salad

So today I went into the kitchen with the intention of making vegetable lentil stew and when I left I had this refreshing Israeli couscous salad in my hands. What the heck happened? How did this happy accident come to be? It all started when I looked in the pantry and we didn't have any lentils...okay scratch that off the list, I can use quinoa. No quinoa. Okay, okay, no biggie, I'll just use this semi-mysterious Israeli couscous that's been sitting in the pantry for years because I am not completely sure what to do with it. So I proceed to my other staple ingredients and I had maybe 2 of the 5 needed. Guess today isn't a stew kinda day. Now what. Well...I have this couscous, some limes and oranges and brussel sprouts. Why not put them all together? BAM! This delicious salad was born!

Israeli couscous salad

1 package (8.8 oz) Israeli couscous, I used this brand:
3 cups broth (of your choice, I used vegetable)
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 chopped pecans
1/2 craisins
2 TBS light brown sugar
1 thinly sliced shallot
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 orange juice (or squeeze one half of a fresh orange)
about 10 finely sliced raw brussel sprouts
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.Boil broth and dump couscous in, cover and simmer for about 15 min.

2.After couscous has absorbed most of the water and is fully cooked (will resemble cooked pasta) toss with remaining ingredients and chill.

For those of you who are like, what the heck is this stuff? This couscous has a pasta-like texture ...in fact it's pretty much (for lack of a better term) pasta balls. This salad is refreshing and light with sweet undertones. Some people (a.k.a. my boyfriend) thought that the raw sprouts were a tad overwhelming so you might want to add those bad boys to taste, I personally loved them.