I'm growing cauliflower for the first time, and the results were kind of small compared to the rest of the plant. In searching whether the leaves and stalks of cauliflower were edible, I found this recipe: http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/05/31/got-more-leaves-than-cauliflower-roast-the-whole-vegetable-with-soy-garlic-and-spring-onions/#. I made it, and it was delicious, even at room temperature. The leaves were nice and crispy. I think it'd work well for bento.

I found these on another site for weight loss actually and found they work perfect for a protein punch and can freeze for a quick toss in the lunch on the way out the door. It's not really japanese at all but it works perfect for my americanized bentos I think. You will need Ham slices eggs shredded cheddar salt/pepper to taste muffin cups/pan 1 egg will produce 2 egg cups so plan your ingredients around how many you will make. line each muffin cup with a slice or two of ham (depending on how thin it's sliced).

Just went to re-load a page on bento & co, and lo and behold I see we Americans won't have to wait until January? If it's only for pre-order, that would be great, too... Take a look: http://en.bentoandco.com/collections/all

This is my first time ever writing out a recipe. I like to experiment a lot and am always making my own creations but I rarely ever write them down (or use measurements). I liked this one and so did my mom. So, I thought I should try and write down a recipe for it so I can share it with others :) . If it's hard to follow let me know. I kind of guessed on the measurements so if you try it out and you think it could use a little more or a little less of something please..let me know! ha ha. So any way..the moment of truth! EDIT/

[I know I haven't been posting a lot of recipes lately...travelling around so much does that to you. So here's a great recipe for vegetarian/vegan kimchi from the forums, by Stephanie.! - maki]

I recently started making my own kimchi, because I was having trouble finding one that was fish free and without a ton of additives. It is super easy and easily customizable. I really like having something a little crunchy, spicy, and salty to go along with my lunch.

Recipe:

hello everyone, i'm kind of fond of the triangular onigiri (not much triangular foods around) and can't seem to get it right with the cup-and-wrap method. i don't own any molds, so i usually just make them by hand. today i made a smaller amount of rice than usual- from just 1 cup, which i figured would produce 4 plain onigiri. i took all the rice out of the cooker and put it into a flat round china bowl to cool a little before handling. the bowl was slightly wet, so nothing would stick.

I don't have a proper recipe for these, I was experimenting when I made them and the photos are sort of necessary. But it just occurred to me that they'd do very well in bentos, so if you want to go here for a look you'll get the general idea.

Maki's announcement of her upcoming bento cookbook make me realize we've been using a copy of "Japanese Cooking for Health and Fitness" for almost 20 years. My husband bought this book in the 80's, long before we met and its been a food stained staple in our kitchen ever since. Its still in print and the easy recipes don't require hard to find ingreidents; the book was published in 1983, back when Japanese food was still considered to be pretty exotic.