"This cold salad is delicious."  The directions don't say to chill the salad so I am including the quote from the email that carried the recipe.  It looks good and little bit different with the apricots and nuts added.

WILD RICE AND CRANBERRY SALAD

Make dressing first..

¾ cup Extra Light Olive Oil
¼ cup Cider Vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar (or substitute Splenda Brown Sugar or regular Brown Sugar)
1 tsp Salt

Shake together.  Add 2 cups dried Cranberries to dressing and let sit while you make the rice.

1 package Wild Rice
1 package Uncle Ben's (R) long-grain and wild rice

Cook as directed (Wild Rice takes about 45 minutes to cook completely).  Start with Wild Rice.  Then begin cooking Long-grain & Wild Rice when wild rice has been cooking for about 20 minutes.  They will finish at the same time. Drain rice if all the water has not been absorbed.  Mix ingredients together.  Mix rice with dressing and cranberries.  Add 1.5 cups of dried Apricots (quartered).  Add 1.5 cups coarsely chopped walnuts or other nuts.  Stir well.  Taste.  You may want to add more salt or dressing.  Every day or so, add a Tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to perk up the flavor.

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The recipe below is from "The Cancer Project News", a newsletter [Fall 2006] sent by The Cancer Project - www.cancerproject.org.

YAMS WITH CRANBERRIES AND APPLES
Makes about 6 1-cup servings

2 yams
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large green apple, peeled and diced
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel yams and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (you should have abut 4 cups).  Toss with olive oil and spread in a 9"x13" baking dish.  Top with apple and cranberries.

Mix maple syrup and cranberries and pour over casserole.  Cover and bake until yams are tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour.

Nutritional information per 1-cup serving:  208 calories, 2 g fat, 2 g protein, 44 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 18 mg sodium, o mg cholesterol

This recipe is from The Survivor's Handbook:  Eating Right for Cancer Survival by Neal D. Barnard, M.D.

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The following recipe comes from a can of Kroger black beans:

BLACK BEAN AND CORN SALSA

1-15 oz. can black beans
1-12 oz. can whole kernel corn
1-medium tomato, finely diced
1-small red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp. cumin powder

Drain and rinse beans and corn.  Combine in a medium bowl with diced tomato and onion.  Mix and add lime juice and cumin.  Serve with tortilla chips.  Refrigerate any leftovers. 

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Here is a recipe from a Spice Islands (R) ad.  Sliced veggie burgers or chik patties make good fajitas.
 
FAJITA SEASONING

Sliced veggie burgers or chick patties make great fajitas.

1 Tbsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp Ground Chipotle Chile
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

*Spice Islands has a Ground Chipotle Chili powder  The Spice Islands ad says this about chipotle chilis: "Chipotles are dried, smoked jalapeno peppers and have a moderate heat level.  The sweet, smoky, hot flavor is essential for authentic Latin American cuisine." 

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MOCHI:  Acording to information I have, "Mochi is gluten-free and found at your local natural foods store in the refrigerated section".  More information about the rice patties can be found att he folling web site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi_(food)

MOCHI WAFFLES WITH CREAMY RICE SYRUP   Serves 2

1 package Mochi, cut into 2" strips
6 oz. cup Stoneyfield Farm O'Soy Vanilla
1/2 cup Brown Rice Syrup

Cut 2" strips of mochi and place them in the waffler.  Mochi will melt and puff to shape the waffle.  In a separate bowl, mix together O'Soy Vanilla with Brown Rice Syrup to create a creamy consistency.  Serve waffle warm, topped with fresh fruit and creamy O'Soy and Brown Rice Syrup.

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DIETARY WEB ADDRESSES:

The three web addresses below come from Chris Rosenbloom's dietician column in the December 14, 2006 edition the Food and Drink section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  The "mypyramid" and "5aday" addresses are to two separate web sites.
  
Dietary approach to lowering high blood cholesterol:

www.portfolioeatingplan.com

The food pyramid web site has ideas and recipes:

www.mypyramid.gov

or check out 5aday.gov

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I was recently diagnosed as being low on vitamin B12, but I have digestion problems and  will be getting B12 by injection once a month so there is something more to it.  Keep an eye  on the labels of vegan food products that have vitamin B12 because the manufacturer might stop including it.

Here is information on vitamin B12 from an article, "Vitamin B12 in the Vegan Diet", by Reed Mangels, PhD., R.D. of the Vegetarian Resource Group:

"The requirement for vitamin B12 is very low.  Non-animal sources include Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula or T-6635+ nutritional yeast (a little less than 1 Tablespoon supplies the adult RDA), and vitamin B12 fortified soymilk.  It is especially important for pregnant and lactating women, infants, and children to have reliable sources of vitamin B12 in their diets. "Vitamin B12 is needed for cell division and blood formation.  Neither plants nor animals make vitamin B12.  Bacteria are responsible for producing vitamin B12.  Animals get their vitamin B12 from eating foods contaminated with vitamin B12 and then the animal becomes a source of vitamin B12.  Plant foods do not contain vitamin B12 except when they are contaminated by microorganisms or have vitamin B12 added to them.  Thus, vegans need to look to fortified foods or supplements to get vitamin B12 in their diet.  Although recommendations for vitamin B12 are very small, a vitamin B12 deficiency is a very serious problem leading ultimately to anemia and irreversible nerve  damage.  Prudent vegans will include sources of vitamin B12 in their diets.  Vitamin B12 is especially important in pregnancy and lactation and for infants and children." 

For the rest of the article plus references go to the following web address:

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm 

Thee article can also be found in "Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals"" by Debra Wasserman and Reed Mangels, The Vegetarian Resourse Group, $14.95, www.vrg.org.

The Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast is at the following web address in case you want to check out the price or see what the packaging looks like.
                    http://www.nextag.com/red-star-nutritional-yeast/search-htmlhttp://www.nextag.com/red-star-nutritional-yeast/search-html

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