Bacon wrapped venison bites

Our good friend Charlie might have the best job in the entire world. You see, Charlie is a park ranger. He gets to enjoy the wild outdoors all year round and a few different state parks around Iowa. Did I mention he also has a house with his wife and two beautiful children at one of these parks? Yep, DREAM JOB I'm telling you. And he's good at it too.

Drew and I love going camping so on a whim we decided to call Charlie and see if he had any room at one of his parks for us (we were asking on Labor Day weekend, it was a long shot). He said absolutely! In fact, he set us up with a spot at the park where he lives. We were expecting to set up our tent and get ready to relax but oh no, Charlie had pulled his beautiful camper into the spot for us to use instead. How thoughtful!! We were so excited since we usually rough it in sleeping bags. But not this time. Check it out:

And that was only one half of the inside. Spin around and you'll find a couch and bed!

So we sat down with friends around the campfire to have a few beers and just catch up. It was very relaxing. After awhile I wandered down to the river for a little fishing. I didn't manage to bring back any catfish that night, but I didn't care. With a view like this I was in heaven:

When I got back to the campsite, Charlie had brought out some venison for the grill that he had hunted himself. This was the most fantastic venison I think I have ever had. The meat was lean, flavorful, and didn't taste "gamey" like it does sometime. So I had to know just how he did it...

Ingredients:

• Venison loin
• Italian dressing
• Cavendars Greek seasoning (okay I absolutely LOVE this stuff. I put it on eggs, pizza, EVERYTHING. Pick some up, you'll love it too)
• Bacon

Directions:

• Marinate venison in Italian dressing for at least 24 hours. A long time marinating helps ensure that the meat won't taste too gamey.
• Remove from marinade and generously sprinkle Greek seasoning.
• Cut up into small pieces. Wrap each piece with bacon and place on skewer.
• ---note--- venison is very lean so it dries out quickly. The bacon definitely help it keeps in some moisture.
• Now grill and enjoy!

These were AMAZING! I'm sorry I don't have an 'after' photo but we gobbled these up just too fast.

Thanks again Charlie!