D.B.
Here is one link I found:
http://www.stacymakescents.com/20-healthy-granola-bar-rec...
I am still looking for a recipe my son loved - it was from Whole Foods and featured the 365 brand of products, but you don't need to stick with that. It had oats, almond butter, honey, fruit and flax. If anyone finds it, send it to me!!! LOL!
Just experiment - remember you can substitute almond butter for peanut butter, and switch up different dried fruits (raisins for craisins, or chopped up dates or apricots, for example) and switch up honey or agave or stevia for sugar, and so on. Don't be afraid to use chocolate - but use the high cacao chocolate chips rather than milk chocolate chips with a lot of junk in them. Add in flax meal (ground flax seeds) or whole flax seeds (look like sesame seeds and add crunch, but also provide good fiber and some crunch).
Adding shredded zucchini adds moistures, so decrease the liquid if you add this. You can also drain the shredded zucchini in a colander before mixing in with the rest of the ingredients. Definitely don't peel the zucchini first. Grated carrots don't have nearly as much liquid and don't need to be drained.
Let bars cools in the pan before you slice them and they won't break apart so much.
I also found they were easy to freeze with layers of wax paper in between so they didn't stick. It made it worth the time to make a whole bunch. You can also make the main mix, then separate it in two batches, and add walnuts and cranberries (chopped) to one and chocolate/almond to another before pouring into 2 different pans and banking at the same time. If you put them in a school lunch frozen, they'll thaw just fine in an hour but keep well longer than that.
And while these substitute for cookies, don't let the kids think it means they can just eat this stuff and not their meals!
If this works for your family, you can also make your own chicken nuggets and oven fries and sweet potato pancakes - my son gobbled these up and they were SO much healthier than the pre-made options.
Have you tried zucchini crisps? They're easy and kids like making them: cut zucchini in 1/4 inch wide disks, dip in olive oil, then in a mix of parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs(regular or whole wheat). You can season up with some pepper but don't add salt - the Parm cheese has enough anyway. Some zucchini will still show under the breading. Place on a baking sheet - if you have leftover crumb mixture, just sprinkle it on top of the disks after they are on the sheet. Then bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes until crumbs start to brown and everything crisps up. Remove from oven and eat. So much better than potato chips! You can use yellow squash too.
