Since my daughter has started “big girl school” (AKA Kindergarten) I’ve been trying to step up my lunchbox game by giving her delicious choices while providing a little reason to smile.
Admittedly, this summer I was sort of a slacker when it came to lunch. Many days we were on-the-go and I didn’t do a good enough job planning ahead to make sure she had something delicious and filling for her tummy. I wanted to make sure the school year was different.
By the time lunch rolls around at school it’s already been a long morning for her. I want to make sure I can give her a reason to smile and hopefully help to fuel her through the rest of her day. I really believe that sometimes just one smile can turn someone’s day around and smiles are often infectious.
There are two ways I’ve been working to do this.
- I’ve created personalized lunch box notes for the first 20 days of school to help her start the year off right. You can get these as a free printable when clicking here.
- I’ve created some fun foods for her that will be unique and make her happy, such as these Sweet & Salty Goldfish® crackers granola bars.
You can get the full recipe for these below.
Sweet & Salty Goldfish crackers Granola Bars
Note: Before we dive in, you may find a lot of recipes that use brown rice syrup as a sticky ingredient for granola bars. After doing some research I discovered that brown rice syrup is hard to find and it actually can have more calories than both maple syrup and honey, depending on the brand.
- 2 cups of steel cut oats
- 1 cup of sliced almonds
- 1 cup of chocolate chips, you can use dark chocolate or milk chocolate
- 1 cup of raisins
- ½ cup of honey
- 1 Tbsp. of maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. of all-natural peanut butter
- Handful of Goldfish crackers
- Toast oats and almonds in the oven for 15 -20 at 350 degrees. You can use these raw but I like the flavor I get from toasting them.
- While those are baking, warm honey, maple syrup and peanut butter on the stove. Make sure it is well blended. You’ll have to break up the peanut butter by whisking.
- Combine oats and almonds mixture, chocolate chips, raisins and sticky honey mixture. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
- Pour the mixture into a baking dish. Make sure you have parchment paper or wax paper lining the dish. Otherwise your bar mixture will stick.
- Top with Goldfish crackers, pushing lightly so each cracker is embedded in the granola mixture.
- Put in the refrigerator for one hour. Depending on the temperature of your oat mixture and your honey mixture when you pour it in, you might be able to leave them in there less time.
- Remove your paper from the baking dish and cut carefully, ensuring that you don’t damage the Goldfish crackers.
- Wrap the bars in parchment paper, wax paper or foil if you want to add them to a lunch box. Or you can put them in a container too.
We hope you have a happy school year! Again, click here to grab the lunchbox notes! There’s two versions now – one for elementary school kids and one for tweens and teens.
Click here to grab more recipes and here for more snack ideas.
What a fun idea! Definitely trying this soon!
I absolutely need to try this! My daughter LOVES Goldfish!
Fun idea, I love goldfish, would be fun to make and tasty too!
My kids love Goldfish crackers a lot so this would be a cool new snack for them to try. Especially as an after school snack even.
Oh, my word! The little goldfish bars are ADORABLE! My son would love them!
These bars are so cute – I’ve never tried goldfish! My mum used to leave little handwritten notes for me in my lunch sometimes and I used to love it!
Looks like kids would love this! Cute!!
My kids love sweet and salty snacks! I might have to try this. The notes are a great way to let your kids know you are thinking about them!
Homemade granola bars? You’re amazing. How’d you think of that?
Healthy and filling! That’s a really nice lunch idea for the kids, especially since goldfish is a favorite among the kids. I’m sure they’ll enjoy this!
Super cute. I love the lunchbox notes. I still remember when my mom slipped a note in my lunch box. It always made my day.
Adding notes are really sweet and I’m sure the kids appreciate it as well and it puts a smile on their face! To add to that, a really lovely treat for lunch like this is perfect!
I love the idea of using the Goldfish in the homemade granola bars. My kids would just love these!
How super cute is this?? I would love to find these in my lunches! I don’t think I have ever seen these in a granola type bar before.
These bars look like the perfect snack! What a great idea adding goldfish to the granola bars.
These look delicious! A little bit of salty and a little bit of sweet is perfect!!
These goldfish bars look so good! I bet my daughter would love them. I also used to love getting noted in my lunch box!
These are so cute and they look delicious! I’d definitely try them out. 🙂
These bars look so tasty and I love how you’ve added the little goldfish – so cute! Plus, I really like the idea of those notes to also brighten up your daughter’s day 🙂
I recently found out how easy homemade granola is, awesome recipe.
Those granola bars are the cutest thing. What a sweet treat to add to your kids’ lunchbox. I bet they are the envy of all the other kids come lunch time.
I love the idea of making a special treat for your daughter and pairing it was a sweet note. It gives her something to look forward to every day.
Getting a lunch box filled with delicious food and a love note from my mom was something I looked forward to every day until basically middle school! Lunch boxes rock!
What a fun — and yummy! — idea! LOVE it!
My daughters love goldfish and would be so surprised to find these bars in their lunch boxes! What a great kid friendly recipe!
These are so cute! I love the idea of lunchbox notes are a great way to remind kids we care!
Homemade Granola bars are our FAVE!! My son would freak out if we made some with goldfish in them! This is an excellent idea!
How yummy. Gold fish crackers are my absolute favorites!
These look great! I love the goldfish!
Lunchbox notes are so cute for kids when they are away from the house. Let’s them know that you are thinking about them.
great idea, I am always searching for new lunch box ideas as my kids like it when there is a new surprise. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a creative idea. My family loves Goldfish crackers. I know they would love these granola bars. Super excited about trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
How very creative … I love the presentation. I am curious how they would taste.
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This is such a neat snack idea! My kids love goldfish! What a cool sanck idea to do. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These are the kind of granola bars that our boys would actually eat — they have their favorite smiling fishes on them! Such a great idea for back to school as well.
Those look really good! My entire family goes through granola bars like they’re going out of style. I’d love to make up a batch of these for them.
I have never thought about playing goldfish and a graham cracker. I think it is a genius move. I love salty and sweet mix and this would be a perfect way to do it.
We definitely go through a lot of Goldfish around our house. These look like something I might have to try.
I want to make my own granola bars so I can know exactly what ingredients are inside. My kids would love this fun sweet and salty flavor combination too!
Fun snacks like these are so good for refueling after school. I’m liking this as a lunchbox treat too!
Sweet and salty is the best combination. I love making my own homemade granola bars.
I don’t like the whole sweet/salty flavor combo, so I’d want mine ALL sweet, but those goldfish are too cute to resist.
WOW! Those look AMAZING! I love sweet and salty mixes and this recipe is so perfect for me!
What an amazing combo! I need to make these for my kids!!
My family and I love granola bars! We will definitely have to try out this recipe.
What a fun idea. I would have never thought to do this, but I know my kids would love it. How cute and fun for school lunches and snacks.
Fun idea, I love goldfish, would be fun to make it! Can’t wait to try it!!!
My kids would LOVE these! I really want to try making them. I might have to hide them from my husband. He’s a sucker for anything sweet AND salty.
My daughter is such a picky eater now, but she would probably love this. It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet.
My kids are back in school, and I am inspired to start their year off well. They’re going to love these homemade granola bars. They sound like just the right amount of sweetness.
What a fun treat! I would have never thought to add Goldfish to a granola bar, but it sounds like it really works!
My sister loves granola bar. That is her only request from my other sister who lives in Canada. Thanks for this recipe, I can make some for her, anytime!
This looks really good. I’m thinking this would be a great treat for a road trip
What a brilliant idea. My kiddos will love this granola bars. Who wouldn’t? It’s super fun and cute.
I love how you used gold fish crackers in this!
Yum, those look really good, and I would have never thought about using goldfish crackers in a granola bar before-but come on, they’re good on everything, right? Love Goldfish crackers.
We devour granola bars daily, but I’ve never made my own. These with Gold Fish look so fun and tasty. My bunch would definitely go for them.
Our kids love Goldfish, but I’ve never thought about incorporating them into anything other than homemade trail mix or a meal crumbled topping. This looks yummy!
These bars seems to be easy to make and the perfect snack for my busy days! I love it!
The goldfish on top might make these the cutest granola bars I’ve ever seen. I’m sure they’ll be a hit in your daughter’s lunchbox!
This sounds so good! I actually made a similar recipe yesterday, but instead of granola bars, I rolled them into energy balls 🙂
Peanut starts Kindergarten next year, I’ll have to remember to make these for her lunch box!
We love granola bars, but I always just buy from the store. I need to start making homemade granola bars. Thank you for the recipe. Looks so good!
I love the lunch box notes idea. My son started Pre-K last week andi know he would love a drawing from me (I say a drawing because he cant read yet)
These look awesome and like such a fun snack for my daughters! They just look fun. And the recipe ingredients are all items I know my daughters would eat. Excellent idea!
Goldfish crackers?! Total game changer!