Sweet and Simple Couscous With Fruit

I adapted this from a recipe I saw on Everyday Italian. My local WinCo carries "Tri-Color" or "Rainbow" couscous, which I like for the aesthetics. For fruit, any dried fruit will do, but I like to use a combination of dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries, apples, and apricots. The flavors work really well together, and--again--the aesthetics are very pleasing. With smaller fruits like blueberries and cranberries, you can leave them whole. This recipe tastes great--but uniquely different--both warm and cold.

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2  cups water
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup  slivered almonds
• 1⁄2 cup  of shelled hazelnuts
• 1 1⁄2-2  cups  of diced  dried fruit
• 1 1⁄2 cups  of dried couscous

Directions

1. Toast the nuts, either by dry toasting them in a pan on the stove or on a baking sheet in the oven. Once toasted, chop them coarsely.
2. Disolve the sugar in the water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the fruit to the water. Allow to simmer for a while to allow the fruit to rehydrate and cook.
4. Add 1 cup of couscous to the water, stir. If mixture appears too thin, gradually add remaining couscous until mixture is thick enough. A lot of this will depend on how much water the fruit absorbed.
5. Remove from heat, cover, let sit approximately 5 minutes.
6. Fluff couscous with a fork, add the nuts, and mix well.