Tag Archives: dinner

A look at Statesville, NC

Our first stop out of Atlanta was Statesville, NC.  Dave had previously mapped out our route to Maine and randomly chose four KOA’s to stop at on the way up.  Strategically, he wanted them to be no more than 300 miles apart, as driving a huge RV in traffic can be extremely tiring.   And I am currently not approved by either one of us to take on that task…

statesville north carolina koa camping

Our plan is to stay a few days if we love it, or leave the next day if we don’t.  Arriving in early April to Statesville KOA was a treat with beautiful spring flowers to greet us.  We were quite happy with this location!

statesville north carolina koa camping

Statesville is located in Iredell County, in north western NC, east of Asheville.  It was named an All-American City in 2009. The city itself was founded by Scots-Irish Presbyterians and German Lutherans, who originally settled in Pennsylvania, and then moved down to Statesville to plant crops in the fertile soil where game and water were plentiful.  

statesville north carolina koa camping

One of the big draws of the area is Lake Norman.  It is a man made lake created between 1959 and 1964.  The dam was constructed by Duke Power and is reputed to be the largest manmade body of fresh water in NC.

Seems we always end up at dams, doesn’t it?  We love the big beautiful lakes.  Oh and there is the fact that you can say dam in just about every sentence.

A stress reliever, right?

statesville north carolina koa camping

If you love to fish, then Lake Norman is for you.  There are yellow perch, crappie, bluegill, and striped, largemouth and white bass.  Lake Norman State Park features 33 campsites with tent pads, picnic tables and grills. The park is open year round for campers.

statesville north carolina koa camping

While perusing the lake and saying dam a lot, we ran across Eddie’s Seafood and Raw Bar.  Since it seems to be named after my brother, naturally I was interested in stopping.  But I have to admit that the main draw was the fact that it sits right on Lake Norman.

statesville north carolina koa camping

There was plenty of seating inside and the atmosphere was awesome.  However, we chose like everyone else that day to eat out on the back porch.

statesville north carolina koa camping

Dave doing his manly-man pose.

statesville north carolina koa camping

We sat back and enjoyed the view.  There were folks already out on the lake water skiing, and a few children playing on the shore.  A very pretty spot.

statesville north carolina koa camping

And if you are wondering about the food, we can say that it was delicious.  We both ordered the Blackened Fish Sandwich.  Dave suggests that you add the slaw to the sandwich before eating it.

Excellent.

If you are in the Statesville area and looking for a nice place with great atmosphere for lunch or dinner, be sure to check out Eddie’s Seafood and Raw Bar.

statesville north carolina koa camping

That evening, I needed to do a post for Suzy’s Sitcom on Easy Tangy Barbequed Pork Chops.  Believe me, this is a simple recipe.  It is easy to make and delicious.

See, even Ralph thinks it looks good.  Something tells me that I shouldn’t turn my back on him…

statesville north carolina koa camping

I put my handy-dandy grill cook to work, and sat back to enjoy the atmosphere.

We are really enjoying this journey so far. Our next stop is Staunton, VA.   We will be staying in another KOA there.  With a beautiful weather forecast of sunny and in the 70’s, we should have a great time.

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Saying goodbye to Atlanta!

It has been a rough couple weeks.  We finally managed to sell all of our belongings and even survived a free Facebook free-for-all.   As tough as it was paring ourselves down to only the RV and what is in it, the hardest part was leaving friends and family behind.

family dinner traveling sitcom

You know, saying goodbye is hard.  Even though we know that the world is much smaller these days with the internet and cell phones.  Everyone is just a touch of a keypad away.  But I will miss hugging my family.

Now that this dream of ours is a reality; seems that reality has a few drawbacks.

the hil logo

We got together at the Hil Restaurant in Serenbe in Palmetto, GA, for a family get together the day before we left town.  This unique restaurant offers a diverse menu, guided heavily by produce from Serenbe Organic Farm located just around the corner.  It is owned and operated by Chef Hilary White and her husband Jim White.

We highly recommend it if you are in the south Atlanta area and looking for a memorable meal.  Our girls group did a Sunday brunch there about a month ago and I have to tell you, the Chef’s Cinnamon Roll is amazing!

wedding dress photo

While we were there, my daughter showed off a photo of her wedding gown!  She will be getting married in early November.  We just love our future son-in-law and look forward to being back in Georgia in time for Dave to walk her down the aisle!

wedding dress photo

See, don’t they look great together?

A group of family, led by my sister, are also planning on coming to Maine to visit us in June.  They already have flights arranged and a rental house booked.  And apparently they also booked a lobster boat tour because you certainly can’t visit Maine without a lobster boat tour!

Just saying.

It will be fun showing them around our new temporary “home”!

atlanta georgia highway travel2

In the meantime, we leave Atlanta behind and begin heading north.  I can tell you one thing, we will not miss the traffic!  We had delayed a day leaving due to weather.  This time of year in the south is generally stormy.  Something about April rains bringing May flowers.  Right?

Yeah.  We are already tired of the rain.  And a bit tired of cleaning red Georgia mud out of my white RV.

dogs traveling rv camping

The dogs settled into traveling pretty quickly.  They love their new envelope dog bed that I made them, and sleep at my feet the entire trip.

Our trip to Statesville, NC took about six hours.  Unfortunately, that is about an hour longer than it should have.  An accident just north of Charlotte had us in stop and go traffic for the last 30 miles of our trip.

And we thought we had left traffic behind in Atlanta!

We were very glad to roll into the Statesville, NC KOA just before dark.

statesville north carolina koa camping

And here the journey begins!

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Teriyaki Orange Beef Shish Kebabs Recipe

We took another trip in our RV this past week and visited the cool crafty town of Franklin, NC.  While we were there, I tried out my latest campfire recipe, Teriyaki Orange Beef Shish Kebabs.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

This is an easy recipe that you can make ahead of time so that when it comes to dinnertime while on vacation, you don’t have to put out a lot of effort.  That is my kind of cooking!And they are pretty darn good too!

Want to know how to make them?

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

Teriyaki Orange Beef Shish Kebabs

1 lb. cubed beef
1 lb. sausage
peppers (green, yellow and red)
mushrooms
1/2 onion

Marinade:
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. dark brown sugar

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

Mix all marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

Use a gallon size ziplock bag and pour the marinade into it along with the sausage pieces and beef cubes.  Create a separate marinade batch and marinate the mushrooms separately in their own ziplock bag.  (I don’t like to mix raw meats and veggies).   Put both bags in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

Just before cooking, go ahead and cut up the peppers and onion and prepare them for the skewers.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

String your meats and veggies on wooden skewers.  Kind of a messy process, but totally worth it.  Keep your Wet-Nap wipes close and you won’t have to worry about sticky hands.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

Then place them on a hot grill.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

You will need to cook them until the beef is done.  In our case, about 15 minutes over hot coals, turning them a few times over the time period.  For even cooking, it is sometimes necessary to move the kebabs around a bit to give them all a chance at the center of the coals.

teriyaki orange beef kebabs grill recipe

These kebabs turned out fabulous!  They have a sweet and spicy mix of flavor with the tang of teriyaki and the sweetness of marmalade.  A simple meal to make, but so full of flavor and fun to eat too!

Teriyaki Orange Beef Shish Kebabs Recipe
Recipe Type: Dinner
Author: Suzy Myers
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 servings
This is an easy recipe that you can make ahead of time so that when it comes to dinnertime while on vacation, you don’t have to put out a lot of effort.
Ingredients
  • 1 lb. cubed beef
  • 1 lb. sausage
  • peppers (green, yellow and red)
  • mushrooms
  • 1/2 onion
  • Marinade:
  • 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
  • 1/3 cup orange marmalade
  • 1 tbsp. vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp. dark brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl.
  2. Use a gallon size ziplock bag and pour the marinade into it along with the sausage pieces and beef cubes. Create a separate marinade batch and marinate the mushrooms separately in their own ziplock bag. (I don’t like to mix raw meats and veggies). Put both bags in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.
  3. Just before cooking, go ahead and cut up the peppers and onion and prepare them for the skewers.
  4. String your meats and veggies on wooden skewers. Kind of a messy process, but totally worth it. Keep your Wet-Nap wipes close and you won’t have to worry about sticky hands.
  5. Then place them on a hot grill.
  6. You will need to cook them until the beef is done. In our case, about 15 minutes over hot coals, turning them a few times over the time period. For even cooking, it is sometimes necessary to move the kebabs around a bit to give them all a chance at the center of the coals.

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Southern Style Bacon Wrapped Slaw Dogs Recipe

I lived in Atlanta for many years, but I’m not originally from the south.  We moved to the Atlanta area from the north when I was 15.  I’m not going to say how many years ago that was, but suffice it to say, I did learn a little southern cooking.  So I want to share with you a great camping recipe, Southern Style Bacon Wrapped Slaw Dogs!

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs

When we first moved to the south, the culture shock was pretty significant.  Learning the dialect was daunting.

Here are just a few examples of the colorful local vocabulary:

All Y’all – You, you and you!  Every one of you!
All bowed up– Ready for a fight
Mash the button : Nobody ever pushes anything around here, it is all mashed.
Buggy: That thing you probably refer to as a shopping cart
Might Could: More than likely it can be done!
Fixin-to: About to do something, or at least thinking hard about it
Eat up- Go out in the yard at night and you get eat up by mosquitos.  Seriously.

So lets practice: “All y’all are fixin-to get eat up if’n you don’t mash that button and spray those suckers.  Don’t get all bowed up.  You just might could carry yourself down to the quickie mart and fetch a buggy and some bug spray.  Reckon?”

Got it?

But vocabulary wasn’t the only thing we had to get used to.  Southern food is a whole new adventure.  Steak for breakfast, chicken and waffles, collard greens, cornbread, sweet tea, pecan pie and cobbler.  The veggies are all fried.  Which is good in a way because boiled okra is just disgusting.

Oh, and then there are grits.  Yep, not just one grit, but many.   That is one southern standby that just has never grown on me.

Recently, I tried a southern version of hotdogs.  You see, in the south, they put slaw on their hotdogs!  And you know what?  It’s actually pretty good!  So, I decided to make my own version of Southern Style Slaw Dogs.

Created by a northerner who now pretty much blends.  Want to know how?

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

 Southern Style Bacon Wrapped Slaw Dogs

Coleslaw
1/2 cup Kraft mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons vinegar
2-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 cups shredded cabbage (I used pre-shredded cabbage, carrots and red cabbage)

Bacon Wrapped Hotdogs
1 (16 oz) package Oscar Mayer beef hotdogs
1 package Kraft Singles Sharp Cheddar
1 package bacon
toothpicks

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Make the coleslaw ahead of time.  It needs to sit in the fridge at least two hours.  Overnight is good too.  In a large bowl, mix together all the coleslaw ingredients except the cabbage.

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Use a whisk to mix the ingredients well.

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Add in the shredded cabbage and toss well, then refrigerate.  Simple right?  My favorite kind of recipes only take a few moments so that I can get back to my craft room.  Just saying.

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Now lets work on the hotdogs.  Slice the hotdog horizontally, not going all the way through.  Then place narrow slices of cheese in the crack.  (Another option is to place your cheese in your bun.  When you add the steaming hotdog, your cheese will get all melty and delicious).

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Wrap each hotdog with two slices of bacon.  Starting at one end, anchor it with a toothpick.  Wrap around the hotdog, adding the second piece of bacon at the middle and continuing it to the end.  Anchor that end also with a toothpick.

Did I mention that most anything tastes great with bacon?

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Here are the wrapped hotdogs ready for the grill!

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

I guess you could cook these in the oven, but since we are traveling a lot, we love to find new recipes for the grill.  This one fits the bill.

southern style bacon wrapped slaw dogs camping recipe

Because this is bacon over a hot flame, it is a good idea to lower the coals a bit to give the hotdogs some breathing space.  And then be sure to supervise, turning the hotdogs frequently with a pair of tongs.  We found that it takes about 15 minutes to cook the bacon all the way.  The hotdog inside will be ready at the same time.

bacon wrapped hotdogs

 

Now add your slaw to the top of the hotdogs.  Some folks add mustard at this point, but I like it just the way it is.  You will be surprised at how well the sweet slaw goes with the saltiness of the bacon wrapped hotdog.

This is one southern dish that I definitely stand behind!

Grits?  Well not so much.  But maybe one day it might-could grow on me.  Reckon? 

What is your favorite southern dish?

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