Last night I had the pleasure of cooking dinner. This is a rare occurence during the week since I usually don’t get home from work until 7:30. Yesterday I got off work at 4:15 and chose to spend my free evening in the kitchen. On the menu: maple-mustard pork loin, citrus couscous, and roasted potatoes. Everything turned out great but the star of the show was the citrus couscous.

 This was my first time making the dish and it turned out better than expected. My only regret is that I didn’t double the recipe because now we have zero leftovers.

Did I mention it takes 10 minutes to prepare?. I promise you, it is very quick and easy.

Citrus Couscous

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup whole wheat couscous, dry

2 tbsp finely chopped scallions or chives

2 tbsp dried parsley

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup orange juice (no pulp)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cucumber,

1/4 cup feta cheese

salt & pepper

Directions:

Place water in a small pot and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, take the zest of one lemon.

Whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, orange juice, olive oil, chives, and parsley.

Add couscous to water, remove from heat and cover pot for 5 minutes.

Dice cucumbers.

When couscous is ready, fluff with a fork.

Add pine nuts, cucumbers, and feta cheese.

Toss with dressing.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

**You could add chicken or garbanzo beans to make this a complete meal.

I have a feeling this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day after all the flavors have set in. I also have a feeling I will be making this again and again for easy, quick lunches at school.

PS – I bought this citrus zester from ikea for $1.99. It makes zesting easy!