wild rice salad with dried and fresh fruits and nuts

People keep telling me that white rice is empty calories, so in an attempt to add the nutrition back to my rice, I bought a pound or two of a blend of wild rice from the local Co-op.  I no longer remember what's in the blend (I'll jot it down next time I am at the Co-op), but it looks like there are some long grain brown rice and black japonica. Anyway, I got it about a month ago and haven't really done anything with it, and increasingly I felt like it was time...  Initially I was thinking of a warm rice dish similar to a Chinese fried rice but with dried fruits, such as sultanas or dried cranberries, and roasted nuts.  Google searches turned up mainly salad dishes and given the weather has been rather warm this week, I decided to give it a whirl.  The recipe that caught my eyes was this one: http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/?p=8358 and that's mainly because of it's simplicity and lack of overpowering spices. As usual, I made modifications to this recipe and to my surprise, my hubby loved it;  he normally doesn't like wild or brown rice because of the rough texture, but he seemed to really like the flavour of this one.  I hope I get a chance to make it for my new mother-in-law because we think it is something that she would totally enjoy =)

Ingredients

Salad:
* 1 cup wild rice, rinsed
* 2 cups chicken broth (it took some effort to find one without onions!)
* 2 cups water
* 1 cup dried cranberries (I had also wanted to used sultanas but it was easier to find organic cranberries than sultanas)
* 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled, toasted, and roughly chopped  (pistachios is a good source of choline)
* 1 large apple, cored and chopped (in retrospect, a sweet soft pear would have been much more fitting)
* 1 large nectarine, stone removed, chopped (it's stone fruit season, so I had to make use of this lovely fruit)
Vinaigrette:
* 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (the recipe did recommend a fruity vinegar but I didn't have any, so I may try that next time)
* 2 tsp honey
* salt to taste


Procedure
1.  Bring broth and water to boil.  Add rice, stir, and let liquid return to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45mins. Drain liquid and rinse briefly under cold water. Place in a large bowl.
2.  Place all vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar.  Shake well to emulsify.
3.  Stir chopped fruits, dried cranberry, prepared nuts, and vinaigrette in with the rice, until well mixed.
4.  Serve immediately at room temperature or or cold after 'marinating' in fridge.

** Keep leftovers in an airtight container.  If planning on having let overs or serving cold, it is best to mix in the nuts just before so they remain crunchy.

** We actually had it with grilled Italian sausages; it was a great combo. 

Enjoy.