I know lots of people use bentos as a healthy and tasty way of losing weight, and I think that's great. But some of us have the opposite problem, we need to put weight on (don't be jealous, it aint good!). Ok so I could make one HUGE bento or just go to Mcdonalds instead, but seriously I can only eat so much and I want to do it healthily! Does anyone have any good ideas for putting weight on healthily with bentos?

The Thai chili sauce does most of the work. 2 long Chinese or Japanese eggplant 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce 2 Tbsp bottled Thai sweet chili sauce (ingredients: palm sugar, red chili, vinegar, garlic, salt, water) Vegetable oil Salt Preheat oven to 375 F. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise, then on the bias into strips about ½” thick. Lightly salt the eggplant, set aside for about 20 minutes (I skip this step when I use Japanese eggplant). In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce and chili sauce (optional: add 1 tsp vegetable oil).

Last night, on a whim, I decided that we needed a taste of spring at the Basil household. So, I got my partner to help and we whipped up three kinds of pasta salad for bento this week and some for the freezer, too. Besides all that, it only took about 20 minutes, from start to stop. It's a great (and cheap!) bento box filler, but pasta salad is a "by feel" food for me, so I'm kinda guessing on amounts. I'd hate to post a recipe only to find out that no one liked it because I didn't bother to measure ingredients or figure out calorie counts!

Hi everyone, I have most of a large jar of besan flour (chickpea flour) and I don't know what to do with it. I _was_ making socca (chickpea flat breads) but my grill broke. Any other thoughts? moonshae

I have several cans of cheap quality tuna flakes in brine (130g drained weight) hanging about in my cupboard. They will be out of date soon and I am sick of looking at (err....ignoring!) them. I am not the best at looking at individual ingredients and coming up with a clever plan, so perhaps some of you might be able to give me some ideas of how I can utilize these whilst hiding the fact that they are not the best brand. Any ideas? :)

Hello all. I'm starting to try to cook more for myself, and to bring more than just sandwiches to work for lunch. I've noticed that I often get cravings for some good, really spicy food since I don't get it much (and i'm trying to avoid eating out too much since I'm working on losing weight right now). I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions, especially for things that'd be bento friendly and easy to heat up (or eat cold) at work, not to mention healthy.

Hey guys, Having a lot of trouble over here finding recipes for vegetarian proteins that taste good being cold. I just recently cut out all meat products, although I do still eat eggs and milk, so I have retained a lot of recipes that call for meat dishes, which I'm working into converting over to vegetarian-friendly.

My family tends to eat a lot of Mexican and Eastern European food, and I like to make healthier versions of things - and now to utilize the leftovers for bentos. Here's a fave of ours. Tofu Pumpkin Potato Scramble (AKA Veggie Chorizo!) 4 Potatoes, cooked (I usually microwave them, but if I have time I roast them.) 1 Can of Pumpkin Puree 1 Package of Tofu - Firm and Crumbled! 2 TB Achiote Seasoning (This comes in little boxes in Hispanic Markets - I like El Mexicano, it costs less than a dollar) 2 TB Mexican Oregano 2 TB Chili Powder Salt and Pepper to taste