Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad

I love salad and sub sandwiches. I am not sure why, I just do. A long while back Pampered Chef came out with this recipe. I absolutely loved it. I totally forgot about it until I had friends invite us over to celebrate another friends birthday and we had Asian food. The host mentioned this salad to me. I realized it was one I have had in the past but haven't made in a long time. I think one of the main reasons is that I can always see my children balking at the idea of anything green, red or orange in a bowl. I finally decided I wanted to make it and let the kids deal with it. I told them before dinner that there was no complaints. They did really well. Ella just said she was going to pick out what she didn't like. She mainly wanted the noodles and chicken. Zane and Xander did great. As long as they ate all the stuff together they ate it. Overall. No complaints. :)

Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients for Dressing

• 1 teaspoon fresh gingerroot, peeled and finely minced
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar or 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced

Ingredients for Salad

• 8 ounces dry bow tie pasta
• 1/2 cucumber, scored, seeded and sliced
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup red onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 (6 ounce) package baby spinach leaves
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin orange segments, drained
• 2 cups cooked chicken, diced
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

1. For dressing combine gingerroot, vinegar, orange juice, vegetable oil, sesame oil, soup mix, sugar and garlic; whisk until well blended.
2. For salad, cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse under cold water. Place pasta in a large serving bowl.
3. While pasta is cooking, slice cucumber, dice bell pepper , and chop onion.
4. Add cucumber, bell pepper, onion, spinach, mandarin oranges, chicken and almonds to pasta.
5. Pour dressing over salad; toss well and serve immediately.