Peanut butter cup balls offer instant energy for kids at camp

Published 5:30 am Thursday, July 30, 2026

The busiest, most wonderfully chaotic week of the year has arrived again: the week of Camp Kenai. For one week, all of my husband’s sisters and their children will be here to enjoy the mercurial Alaskan sunshine at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

This is the sixth annual week of festivities and, now that we have worked out all the kinks and smoothed out all the speed bumps, the anticipation for this week has been much more joyful excitement than stress.

As the cousins trickled in, there were squeals and hugs and rushes to share news of school and friends and momentary obsessions while parents carried in luggage and cooled their heels after long days of travel.

When the children were younger, when we were in our first years of Camp Kenai, this week was a juggling act of conflicting nap times and diaper bags and toddler meltdowns while we tried our best to fill the week with memorable activities. We coordinated multiple cars to multiple locations, played musical car seats, and swapped drivers on four-stop outings before lunch, and generally made life harder for ourselves than it needed to be with seven babies in tow. As we all have grown, we have relaxed our grip on the itinerary and have settled into a much more comfortable attitude of “let them play” while the grownups watch from a comfortable perch under the porch umbrella.

The sisters and I split cooking responsibilities for the week, and I have volunteered myself for the majority of the dinners. I do love cooking for a crowd, and while the other sisters have the stamina for extended outdoor play, I get overwhelmed by the sunshine and many voices, and truly appreciate some time by myself in the quiet of the kitchen in the late afternoon.

My son, who is the only one without siblings, also benefits from a dedicated quiet hour. Opening night was lasagna, but we will have taco night, fresh salmon and salad, chicken and vegetable skewers, pizza, enchiladas, and a pasta buffet planned. My lovely sister Audrey has volunteered to keep camp sweet and make a dessert for the group every night, and the last night of camp is the birthday party for my nephew, which has become the traditional close of the week’s festivities.

It’s easy for us parents to neglect our own needs this week, and I tend to skip meals (particularly lunch) without meaning to, so I have prepared a box of sweet peanut butter cup protein balls to keep me quickly fueled during the many stop-ins at my house to grab a forgotten toy or ingredient from camp’s second kitchen.

These little snacks are high in calories and protein, perfect for when you need a serious pick-me-up to get you through the last push of the day. I used my favorite whey vanilla protein powder, but any powdered protein supplement should work just fine. You may need to adjust the amounts of sweetener depending on how sweet your protein powder is, so add the sweetener last and taste as you go so they don’t end up too sweet.

Ingredients:

2 cups instant oats

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (chocolate would be tasty, too)

2 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp powdered peanut butter

½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup no sugar-added peanut butter

¼ cup agave syrup or honey (I use agave because it is less viscous and is easier to work with. If you’re using honey, try heating it up first.)

¼ cup melted and cooled coconut oil

Semisweet mini chocolate chips (measure with your heart)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Roll into bite-sized balls and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator overnight to allow the oats to soften and the chia to hydrate. The balls will be very dry immediately after rolling, but by the next morning, they will be soft and all too easy to eat.

Try making a double or triple batch and storing the balls in the freezer for a quick and delicious addition to lunchboxes and beach picnic bags.