Flowers and Granola

The rainbow lunch from yesterday was not such a big hit. The second that the chic got in the car she told me that she didn't like her lunch. She said that she doesn't like the veggies cut up so small. Apparently I'm supposed to make "fancy" lunches WITHOUT cutting the veggies too much. Lotsa rules involved with the whole lunch making process :)

SO, tomorrow, we get back to the types of lunches she loves...with lots of flowers and minimal cutting!

PB&J sandwiches with homemade blueberry jam, Cantaloupe flowers, Chocolate chip granola square, Cucumber and carrot cut outs

A few days ago, the chic asked me to make chocolate chip granola bars. It was perfect timing cause Smitten Kitchen has just posted a new granola bar recipe that looked awesome! I decided to try it and see how it compared to my usual recipe. The only change I made to the recipe was that I used agave nectar instead of honey or corn syrup. For my dried fruits and nuts, I used coconut, pecans, walnuts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, dried cranberries, raisins, wheat germ, and, of course, chocolate chips. I doubled the recipe and baked them in a 9x13 pan. I had to bake them for a few minutes more...maybe 15 minutes.

These were hands down, the best granola bars I've ever made! Not too sweet, not too dry...just a bit sticky. The only drawback to them is that I've eaten a ton of them. I ended up freezing some cause I was afraid that I would completely finish them off. I'm going to make them again and plan out my fruit/nuts mix a little more. This time I just threw in a bunch of stuff I had on hand. You should definitely try the recipe!