Palmabella's Passions

I first made this salad for a wedding shower I hosted in April. It started with a recipe from the internet that I played with and tweaked a bit. The shower had a tropical theme, and I wanted dishes I could not only make ahead, but easily transport to San Diego in the car. This ended up being quite a hit.

Ingredients:

2 c. chicken stock
1 c. white rice (I've never tried it with other rice, but feel free)
1 c. halved snow peas
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
3/4 c. celery
2/3 c. (or one can) sliced water chestnuts
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can crushed (or chunk) pineapple, drained well

Dressing:

2 t. orange juice concentrate
2 t. honey
1 t. soy sauce
1 t. olive oil
1/2 t. sesame oil
1/2 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/4 t. minced gingerroot

Cook rice in chicken stock. Drain well. Cool rice. Put rice in a large mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Pour over rice mixture and toss. Chill six hours, and toss again before serving.

This salad is great with grilled fish or chicken. I thought I had a can of water chestnuts, but I had used them last time. Everything else is just like the recipes says. This time I used chunk pineapple instead of crushed. For the shower, I used passion fruit juice concentrate instead of orange. That was REALLY good.