+ The Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival and My Epic Showdown with a Parade Balloon

~ These crunchy Granola Energy Balls are filled with protein and whole grains to keep you full and power you through whatever the day might hold! Our energy bites are easy no-bakes that freeze beautifully for busy days. They’re crunchy, chewy and satisfyingly delicious! Perfect for snacks and breakfasts on the run! (Originally published as Crunchy Granola Snack Bites) ~

This Recipe Is:   •  Ready in 30 Minutes or Less  •  Freezable  •  Make Ahead  •  Vegetarian  •

When I got the chance to participate in some of the headliner events of this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival, I had no idea how it all would end …

… in a showdown battle of determination …

… between me, and a giant, inflatable Popeye parade balloon.

He was clutching a helium-filled can of spinach in his oversized fist. I had two tiny Crunchy Granola Energy Balls. Might not seem like a fair fight, but (spoiler alert) our energy bites always save the day!

Here’s how it all went down …

The Setup

Scott’s company is a big supporter of Canton’s Football HoF Week, and they always have several tables at the Gold Jacket Dinner, when the inductees receive those fabled jackets in an evening literally filled with legendary personalities. In a stroke of luck, we scored three tickets to one of the premier tables, right by the stage, so Ty eagerly joined Scott and me for the evening.

My kiddo was absolutely starstruck as football’s greats paraded past, just inches from where he stood. Memories of a lifetime, for sure.

An enthusiastic NFL Channel cameraman even hoisted his camera onto Ty’s bony, teenage shoulder. Laughing, Ty told us later that he almost dropped it. (Note to self: feed child power Energy Balls before he attempts to hold behemoth camera costing more than the mortgage.)

Luckily, no cameras were dropped, and the evening far exceeded our expectations.

My favorite pic of the night? We weren’t allowed to approach the players and ask for photos or autographs, but Brett Favre’s salad was fair game. You’ll note: even his salad is handsome!

So far, so good. Right? Still no hint of the showdown to come …

For the next night’s festivities, Scott and I had been generously given tickets for the Tim McGraw concert. Tim McGraw!! It was a fantastic event – from the fun preconcert activities with friends in HoF Village, to an outstanding performance by one of my absolute fave country stars.

Still all good … but here’s where things got just a little off kilter …

The Showdown

As we’d looked ahead to the big HoF week, we’d seen this part coming … the part where we went to an amazing concert and didn’t get to bed until about 1 a.m., only to sleep for three hours before we had to drive back to Canton to meet … here it comes … Popeye the parade balloon. (Cue the sinister dunh-dunh-dunh music.)

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m really not at my shiny best on three hours of sleep. My college roommate used to call me her “black bear” because I’m pretty into hibernating, napping, and sleeping in general.

But, hey – these HoF opportunities were too good to miss! Three hours of sleep?!?! No problem!

Besides, I had my Snack Bites and a cup of coffee. What more could I need?

So, Scott and I mustered our fortitude and drove through the predawn darkness back to Canton for the huge HoF parade. Scott’s company had gathered volunteer “balloon wranglers” to hold the strings for the Popeye balloon, one of the many parade balloons that would float over the crowd along the morning’s parade route.

How hard could it be?, we thought.

A few years ago, we’d taken the kiddos to watch the Macy’s Parade in NYC on Thanksgiving Day. Those balloon wranglers looked like they were having the time of their lives. This would be fun!, we thought. We’d even get team Popeye shirts and (ahem … we’ll call them “jaunty”) sailor caps! What a hoot!

The parade route was only about 2 1/2 miles long – an easy little stroll, we thought. We’d both actually considered just wearing flip-flops since we knew it would be a steamy, sunny morning. (Through some stroke of prescience we both opted for sneakers. Little did we know, this was NOT going to be leisurely stroll …)

When we arrived, the balloon corral was literally joyous.

Huge, colorful, happy balloons were half-filled and tethered low, as each team of wranglers gathered, laughing and pointing when they recognized the other balloon characters … Nemo! Angry Birds!! Awwwwww … Super Elmo! Kung Fu Panda! Plus, a football player (of course!), sliver stars, Miss Muffet’s spider, and an American flag. The list went on and on.

And there was our guy – Popeye! He was impressive – probably the biggest of them all, with muscly sailor biceps.

And that’s when we got that first, niggling little warning of impending doom. The balloon company staffer assigned to our group told us that is was great we’d all done this before, since good ol’ Popeye was their hardest balloon.

Ummmmmm … what? None of us had done this before. Swell.

And so it began. After a brief and generally confusing explanation of how to wrangle a giant, helium-filled parade balloon, we took to our posts … and then stood in uneasy formation under Popeye for about the next hour, waiting our turn to escort our guy out onto the parade route. Unless everyone balanced the weight juuuuust right, the simple act of holding Popeye in place was tiring. My arms were already getting weary, and we hadn’t even left the corral. (Again … cue the diabolical dunh-dunh-dunh.)

We watched the “easier” balloons leave the corral, with the delighted parade crowd chanting “Spin It! Spin It!” as the wranglers spun their more maneuverable balloons round and round as they floated down the parade route.

Oh, Popeye. There weren’t going to be any gleeful spins for you. We’d be lucky to get you to the end, still in one, fully inflated piece.

Finally, it was our turn. Excited to be moving, we nervously worked our way out onto the route.

And then, we began the epic battle to keep Popeye as high up in the air as possible, without letting him blow into signs, buildings, or traffic lights … all with the added fun of knowing that, every time we’d successfully gotten him to full cruising altitude, we’d only be rewarded by having to desperately reel him back in again to shimmy underneath some low-hanging obstacle.

Dripping with sweat, but trying to smile and look pleasant, we called out warnings of trees and poky signposts – anything that threatened to deflate a helium-filled bicep or slash at the cursed can of spinach.

We didn’t stroll down the parade route. We trudged, jamming one foot after the other ahead on the pavement to gain a little leverage to drag Popeye forward.

It was hot, thirsty, hard work.

I’m not going to lie. I’m glad I did it. Truly. In memory, it’s a super-fun story. Probably another once-in-a-lifetime thing.

But honestly, I’m not sure what I would have done, if not for those Snack Bites I’d had for breakfast, early in the morning, before I’d even realized what lay ahead. I needed that energy more than I’d realized, and I was so glad I’d had those Crunchy Granola energy balls stashed in the freezer, waiting to propel me through three measly hours of sleep at the end of a busy week … and totally able to keep me “strong to the finish.”

Perfect Make-Ahead, Grab-and-Go Snacks (or Breakfast!)

I’m not kidding when I say that Energy Balls will save the day.

We used to call these energy-rich, bite-sized balls “Snack Bites,” but we realized that they’re more than just a snack… 

They’ll help you defeat Popeye … or any other parade balloon you happen to meet. And believe me, if they could get me through that, I absolutely know they can get you through an endless meeting or power a kid through a tough soccer practice. I’ve been there, too.

You might remember that these energy bites also practically saved my marriage (well … ok, that’s an overstatement, but it sounds fabulously dramatic), by finally proving me right and convincing Scott to eat breakfast. He now swears by our energy balls as pretty much the only breakfast-on-the-go worth eating … the only thing that can keep him fueled up all morning long without even a twinge of hunger ’til lunchtime.

So simple, yet totally power-packed. They’re jam-crammed with complex carbs and whole grains, plus loads of protein and a bit of heart-healthy fats (that absolute trifecta for a keep-you-full-and-energized food).

Energy Balls (AKA: Snack Bites) are basically the whole reason we started this blog. Whether you call ’em snack bites or energy balls or energy bites … no matter. They’re magical things. And after more than three years of THK’s healthy recipes, they’re still the truest embodiment of grab-and-go nutrition at my house. These Granola Energy Balls are our eighth (eighth!) Snack Bite recipe – just proves how much we love ’em and how many of ’em we eat!

Like all our different healthy Energy Ball recipes, these new crunchy granola bites are so supremely easy to make (no-bakes!) that even kiddos can throw them together. They stock beautifully in the freezer, pre-portioned and ready to head off any nutritional disaster that might arise.

And, they’re really and truly delicious.

Mix and Match for Your Perfect Flavor … and the Energy You Need to Prevail!

With these crunchy Granola Energy Balls, you can mix and match any flavor of granola you like, along with add-ins like different dried fruits, or even a few mini chocolate chips for a little decadence. You pretty much can’t go wrong.

Even after they’ve been frozen, they still have a wonderfully satisfying crunch from the granola. Chewy, crunchy, hearty and just a tiny bit sweet. Totally perfect.

And as I sat in the big field at the end of the Hall of Fame Parade route, guzzling water and watching as Popeye was deflated and put away, I couldn’t help thinking that those tiny, unassuming little snack-sized bites had saved the day again.

Mwah-ha-ha-ha, Popeye! I prevailed! My Granola Energy Balls and I were victorious!

And Popeye was now just a crumpled pile of fabric.

Energy Balls for the win, friends. Works every time.