Italian Rice Salad

For Father's Day, I made this rice salad. I love light italian foods! Capers, red onions, artichoke, white wine, feta, tomatoes, all that good light stuff that's in italian food. This recipe has the first three of that list, so I immediately loved it!

Here's What You'll Need:
3 cups cooked, slightly warm basmati rice [the warmth brings out the flavor of the other ingredients]
1 cup chopped red, green and/or orange sweet pepper [I used all 3]
1 6oz jar quartered marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup raisins [trust me, you'll want those in there. I was skeptical, but it gives it a good citrus taste in the occasional bite]
2 tablespoons drained capers
Organic mixed salad greens, mesclun, or torn romaine [I used salad greens]
Fresh basil leaves [this is an option that I didn't take]

Here's How You Do It!
In a large bowl, combine rice, sweet pepper, artichokes, red onion, raisins and capers. Stir vinaigrette and drizzle over rice mixture; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill. The recipe says to put the rice mixture on the salad greens, but you're going to mix it in anyways, so throw the grass in!

Now, I bought a bottle of garlic vinaigrette. If you can't find one in your local food store, or just want to make your own, the recipe gave instructions on how to make your own.

GARLIC VINAIGRETTE
Here's What You'll Need:
1/2 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/3 cup snipped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried dillweed.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves of garlic; minced

Here's What You Do!
Whisk it all together.

Now, to me, that sounds pretty hard, and not as delicious as the store bought stuff, but if you wanna try it, by all means, be my guest!
Here's the end product!