World Animal Day Blog Hop

Today is World Animal Day, and the Bento Bloggers & Friends are at it again with another great hop for the occasion. Each person in the hop will feature a different animal, so be sure and check them all out by clicking the hop button graphic at the bottom of the page.

The animal we chose was a duck. I know.. exotic, right? We even read one of my favorite books tonight before bed, Make Way For Ducklings. And, we decided to take the traditional flavor, orange, from the only duck dish I know (Duck a l'orange thanks to a lot of late night Food Network marathons), and apply it to some fabulous homemade granola. Thanks to Life as Mom for a wonderful recipe that we only slightly tweaked, and that will be made again and again and again! It is so delicious on some vanilla yogurt or just as is. Recipe to follow..

Brown rice (well blue actually), Goldfish crackers, Gouda & American cheeses, grapes, egg, carrots, lettuce, and homemade orange cranberry granola.

Orange Cranberry Granola
Ingredients - 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon, 2 Tbsp water, 1/4 c canola oil, zest of one orange, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 c toasted wheat germ, 2 1/2 c old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup slivered almonds, 2/3 c dried cranberries
Over low heat, mix first 7 ingredients until melted down a bit and combined. In a bowl, mix wheat germ, oats, and nuts. Pour sugar mixture over and stir to coat. Spread on lightly greased cookie sheet, and bake 40-45 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring 3 times. Let cool, then toss in cranberries. Store in airtight container. Enjoy!

Now, on to the hop! From here, head on over to One Cool Lunch to see their animal adoration in lunch form! Here's a hint.. soo wee...

In this lunch...