Bars of goodness

Almost since his birth, we've had issues with our younger son and food.  First we had our newborn nursing issues, then he got teeth early and was quite the biter, then he lost interest in nursing completely around 6 months.  We had a brief respite once he started drinking formula, then around or before his first birthday, he became the pickiest eater known to man and by 15 months old, he had fallen off the weight-percentile chart completely, thus alarming our pediatrician, who is generally unflappable. 
We have tried man, many, MANY things in the hopes of getting him to eat more, eat healthy and gain weight.  He seems to have very different taste from our other son, so it has been a challenge to "think outside of the box."
We are seeing success!  At our last doctor's appointment, two months later, he is back on the weight-chart in the whopping 8th percentile!  (Hey, we'll take it.)
We have accomplished a small amount of weight gain mainly with two foods, well, drinks: whole milk spiked with whipping cream and Trader Joe's vanilla protein powder mixed with orange juice.  Since we were concerned that he prefers to *drink* rather than *eat*, we keep trying to find new things he will eat.  Our doctor told us to offer him good foods that we want him to eat, but in the end, feed him whatever he wants.  He won't eat meat, he doesn't even like french fries, so we can't even fatten him up the traditional American way: with junk food (and I won't buy chips, etc.).  My latest and greatest discovery, which he LOVES, are Larabars.  If you've never seen these, they are quite amazing.  They have only 4-9 ingredients and seem to be made with a base of dried dates and various kinds of nuts.  It's amazing how varied the flavors are, and how much they taste like what they are described as.  They are gluten free, and most are dairy free.  Because they are basically pressed, dried fruit and nuts they are absolutely crammed full of good nutrition and unsaturated fats.  It's a win-win situation for us!  I am not a fan of traditional granola bars because the mainstream ones are just full of junk and sugar, but these are a great substitution.  The only draw-back is that they are a bit pricey, but I have seen them at Costco.
So, if you're looking for a snack, or a healthy addition to a lunchbox, give these a try!