Jalapeño Cranberry Couscous

I came up with this recipe about five years ago while cooking dinner for my ex boyfriend. It has since become my ‘signature’ dish as my ex dubbed it. You can add chicken** to it or put that on the side or leave it out all together. Either way it’s a relatively easy recipe and perfect for almost any occasion. For the vegans you can substitute raw cashews instead of Feta cheese. What you need…

1 box couscous
1 small bag of dried cranberries (about a cup)
1 whole fresh jalapeño pepper, sliced
1 red onion, diced
A few shallots, diced and chopped small
1 container of feta cheese, equal to about a cup of crumbled feta (or raw cashews)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté the red onion, shallots and garlic in olive oil, mix in with the cooked couscous after you’ve prepared it separately (look on the box for cooking instructions, couscous takes ten minutes to make). Meanwhile slice the jalapeño and marinate in rice vinegar for 20 minutes. Combine crumbled feta, dried cranberries and diced/marinated jalapeño into couscous… Eat and rejoice.

** If you want to do it with chicken get a few skinless boneless, preferably organic, chicken breast to dice into moderate sized pieces, marinade for several hours in olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, finely chopped garlic, honey and lemon juice and sauté separately from all of the above in its own marinade juices. Add directly into the couscous after all of the above. If you do it with chicken add some red onions into the marinade and sauté along with the chicken.