Mandarin Pasta Chicken Salad

I recently had a pampered chef party and we made this salad, it was so wonderful everyone was asking for the recipe.  About a week later I needed to make dinner for our sister missionaries and seeing as how it was still 100 degrees outside I thought this would be perfect, it was it definitely did not disappoint!  I got the recipe from the pampered chef consultant.

Mandarin Pasta Chicken Salad Recipe

Mandarin Pasta Salad
Dressing
1 tspn. Finely chopped, peeled, fresh gingerroot
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/3 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 teaspoons sugar

Salad
8 ounces uncooked bow tie pasta
½ cucumber, scored, seeded and sliced
½ cup diced red bell pepper
½ cup chopped red onion
1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach leaves
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin orange segments, drained
2 cups diced, cooked chicken
½ cup sliced almonds

1. For dressing, finely chop gingerroot. Whisk gingerroot, pressed garlic, vinegar, orange juice, oils, soup mix and sugar together in small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. For salad, cook pasta according to directions, drain and rinse under cold running water. Meanwhile, score cucumber using Lemon/Zester/Scorer. Remove seeds. Slice cucumbers and cut slices in half. Dice bell pepper. Chop onion. Add cucumber, bell pepper, onion, spinach, mandarin oranges, chicken and almonds to pasta. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Serve immediately.