Apple Pie

It's finally officially fall now, and I'm super excited about it. The weather is perfect, the leaves will be turning soon, and there are so many great fall desserts to make (and eat!).

My first fall-inspired project was this old fashioned lattice apple pie. After picking up a few pounds of locally grown apples at Boyd's last weekend, I was ready to make my very first made-from-scratch pie.

First things first, I whipped up some dough for the pie crust using my food processor and this recipe. After a slight mishap (6 cups of water is definitely not the same thing as 6 tablespoons!), the dough turned out perfect, and I put it in the fridge to chill for a little while.

Before making this pie, I'd always heard that the hardest part was making the crust, but making it in a food processor using the recipe above makes it super simple. The hardest part for me was peeling and slicing all of the apples up. 

The recipe called for 3 lbs of sliced apples, which amounts to about 8 cups. This is the most labor-intensive and time consuming part of making a pie.

After probably an hour and a half of peeling and cutting, and a couple of slightly sliced fingers, I finally had all of the apples I needed (and a few embarrassing bandages).

After putting all of the apple slices in a large bowl, I mixed up the ingredients for the filling and coated the apples with it. Again I used the recipe above, but I wasn't as happy with the results of the filling as I was the crust for this recipe.

I think next time I make a pie I'm going to try a different recipe for the filling and I'm going to use some kind of green apple instead of gala because although this pie was delicious, it was missing the tartness that I love in an apple pie.

But back to the baking! The last few steps were to roll out the crust, fill the pie, and make the lattice pattern on top. Once again, a slight edit I would like to make for the next time I bake a pie is to bake the bottom pie crust for a few minutes before filling it.

Overall I'd say this pie turned out pretty well for a first try, but the apples I used were so juicy that the bottom crust wasn't quite as crispy as I wanted it to be, plus as I mentioned before I think I should've used green apples rather than red. 

Anyway, that's my Kentucky Proud Pie! So if you're in the mood to try something new, pick up some fresh and locally grown fruit of your own and try your hand at making a pie from scratch... even if things don't go quite perfectly, I can almost guarantee it'll be delicious!

Boyd Orchards

This past weekend, I went home for a day. We had games on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, but besides going to my boyfriend's football game at EKU, my Saturday was totally free after morning practice.

So, as soon as practice was over, I jumped in my car and headed to Lexington to pick up my best friend since birth so we could go to Boyd Orchards together. I try to make it out to Boyd's at least once every fall because they have the best apple cider and apple cider donuts ever, and my sweet tooth just can't resist. 

Boyd's is about 30 minutes outside of Lexington just past the castle in Versailles, (If you don't know what I mean by the castle, click here. It's another odd Kentucky thing) and it's locally owned and run by the Boyd family. They have fruits and veggies on sale for nearly every season, a casual café with normal lunch food as well as very tasty apple desserts (my favorite), a fully stocked gift shop, and tons of family fun activities. 

As soon as my friend and I walked in on Saturday though, my eyes went straight to the apples. It's become a bit of a fall tradition the past few years for me to pick out some locally grown fruit from either The Farmer's Market (in Lexington) or Boyd's and bake something with it, and this weekend the apples were looking perfect.

In the past I've made apple crisp, iced apple cookies, and apple spice cake with glaze, but never a pie, although I've been wanting to make one from scratch for probably two years now. So, I picked out a few pounds of gala apples and decided it was time to try it.

After getting my apples and paying for those and a dozen apple cider donuts (YUM), it was finally time to eat some lunch from the Apple Café.

Hannah (my friend) got a pulled pork BBQ sandwich with chips, I got a burger, and we both got hot apple cider. The weather turned so early this year, it was actually a little chilly when we went and the cider was even better than usual.

Also, if you've got an apple cider donut and hot apple cider at the same time, I totally recommend dipping the donut into the cider because it's delicious.

Anyway, enough about my eating habits and a little more about Boyd Orchards... Right now they're open Tuesday-Friday 9:30 am-5 pm, Saturday from 9:30 am-7 pm, and Sunday from 12-7 pm.


Since it's fall, they have all sorts of pumpkins, squash, and other gourds on sale as well as apples. I'm actually considering making a pumpkin pie from scratch as well since the apple pie turned out tasty (pie post totally coming later!), but even if you're not a baker there's plenty of other great reasons to visit Boyd Orchards this fall.

Here's just a few:
-Pick your own apples off the tree (because they're so much tastier that way)
-Take a hayride through the orchard
-Explore the corn maze
-Slide down the 90 foot slide
-Buy apple cider
-Drink an apple cider slushie from the Apple Café
-Pick up a dozen apple cider donuts
-Make a Jack-O-Lantern from a pumpkin picked straight off the vine

Basically, just GO! (And I hope you love it as much as I do).

Just a little extra information: To get in Boyd Orchards is totally free, and they have their own website for even more info. Link: boydorchards.com

Dave and Judy's Diner

Today's post is extra special because it's about a local restaurant that I never expected to actually get to eat at. 

I'm not entirely sure about its history, but I do know that Dave & Judy's Diner was open for a number of years, then at some point in 2013 they closed permanently. Although it was already closed by the time I met him, Kameron mentioned multiple times how much he liked this place, and especially their cheap but filling breakfast. So, when I found out about a week and a half ago that they re-opened just for the month of September, I was determined to go before they close again. 

Every September, bluegrass artists gather in Morehead for the Poppy Mountain Music Festival. It's the longest running traditional bluegrass festival in the country, and apparently it's a pretty big deal. This is the 22nd year of the festival according to the official facebook page, and it's also the reason that Dave and Judy's is open this month.

I'm hoping to make it to the Poppy Mountain Music Festival on one of the days this year, but between practice and games  that may be a little tough. It's running September 16-20, and sounds like a lot of fun, so we'll see!

Back to Dave and Judy's Diner though.

Kam and I made it for breakfast right after church this past Sunday. There weren't a whole lot of people there, but it was 11 o'clock in the morning after all.


The inside of the diner is adorable. Between the wall decorations and the traditional black and white checkered diner floor, I was sold. I wish I had a few more pictures, but I felt a little odd and touristy with all the pictures I was taking to begin with.



Besides the atmosphere of Dave and Judy's, my favorite non-food related part about the overall experience was the fact that our waitress brought us our drinks in mason jars. Sure, that might seem like a silly detail to get excited about, but there's something awesomely southern about drinking from a mason jar... especially if you're like Kameron and order sweet tea.

But enough about all that. Let's get to the food. As promised, Dave and Judy's is super affordable but delicious. I ordered pancakes with bacon, and Kam ordered biscuits and gravy with eggs and sausage on the side, and all of that food together cost around $16. Apparently this is a little bit more than their prices were in the past, but I considered it totally worth it. 

Yumm. There's seriously nothing like a good, big ol' Sunday breakfast to make your day great. I think my favorite was the bacon, but I'm a fan of most bacon, and everything else was great too. 

Also, I should probably mention that breakfast actually isn't what Dave and Judy's is most famous for. They have lunch and dinner also, and I've heard they have fantastic barbeque... I'm hoping to make it back for dinner before the end of the month as well, but I don't know if we'll have a chance. 

Regardless, this food was amazing, and if you're in the area from now until the end of the month stop by and get some Dave and Judy's, or check their facebook page and maybe they'll be open up again sometime soon.

Lockegee

This Monday, I had one of the coolest experiences of my life.

First off, the NCAA requires that each sport takes one day off per week, and every week Monday's are the one day that we don't have soccer practice or games. So, they're also the perfect day to go on adventures.

Seeing as this Monday was also Labor Day and we didn't have classes, an adventure was practically required. Plus, after a bit of rain in the morning, around 1:30 or so, the sky cleared up and the weather was gorgeous.

So, my roommate Ashley and I decided to get ready and go to the best place for a quick but cool hike in Morehead, Kentucky: Lockegee Rock. Unfortunately, just as we were leaving the dorms, the sky darkened and it looked like it was going to storm.

Lockegee is about a 20 minute drive from MSU's campus though, so I decided that we should still try to go, so we got in my little Rav and started driving... Then the rain hit, and it hit hard.

Suddenly, we were getting pounded. I could barely, and my car felt like it was about to blow away in the wind... I was going maybe 20mph where the speed limit was 45. Most people would probably have been smart and turned around at this point, but I was convinced we were going to get there and the rain would stop.

So we kept driving and eventually reached the one lane gravel road that leads to the start of the trail. At this point it actually did stop raining, and when we reached the trailhead I parked the car, and we got out and started hiking.

Then we heard thunder, and then the thunder got closer... so we finally gave up and turned around.

As you can see, we weren't particularly happy about this fact, but we also didn't want to die. But then we got halfway back to campus when the clouds started parting and the sky started looking blue and totally non-menacing.... so we turned back around and drove back up Lockegee and FINALLY started hiking for real.

Since the trail is so close to campus, the path is fairly easy to follow as you hike through the Daniel Boone National Forest. The hike to Lockegee isn't too challenging for the most part, although you do have to climb up this semi-large rock formation to see the view.

Luckily, thanks to some conveniently shaped rocks and tree roots in the perfect places, as long as you're not too afraid of heights, the climb is easy. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, but I've made this climb in the dark before and promise it's not as hard as it looks.

Plus, once you get to the top, the view is totally worth it... 

Lockegee is almost always gorgeous, but this Monday just after the rain stopped was especially amazing because of all of the steam rising off of the mountains/hills (I never know exactly what to call them). I'm extremely glad we didn't give up on our adventure and made it in time to see the steam.

So... If you're in the mood to enjoy the outdoors and you're near Morehead, KY, I fully recommend climbing Lockegee at least once.

Directions to Lockegee Rock available on google maps. Link here.

Ale-8-One

Ok, so it has been awhile since I've posted. I've been traveling for soccer and when you're only in town three days per week it's kind of hard to do a lot of exploring in your own state. 

This past weekend I actually went on some adventures in Chicago since my team was playing UIC, but that's not Kentucky, and this is a Kentucky blog... So! Today's post: Ale-8-One, Kentucky's nonalcoholic drink of choice. 

Why? Born in 1926 by a native Kentuckian, it is the only surviving soft drink invented in our state. It's bottled in Winchester and available only in Kentucky and limited parts of Ohio and Indiana.

And, it's delicious. 

So, what is Ale-8-One? Well, first of all it's what everyone I know calls Ale-8, although Ale-8-One is the official name of the drink. In case you were wondering, the full name is a play on words ("a late one") because the drink has a lot of caffeine and sugar in it. 

I actually just finished another Ale-8 while writing this post, and I can feel the caffeine buzz already, but anyway... Basically, Ale-8 is just ginger ale, but personally I have never tasted a regular ginger ale that tastes nearly as good as the Kentucky version.

It's actually the only soft drink I drink since I gave up all soda in the 8th grade... To tell the truth I didn't even drink Ale-8 again until this spring when I finally caved and had the one pictured above while fishing with my boyfriend and some friends. 

I don't know why I ever gave it up in the first place. 

Now, this drink is available at nearly every grocery store and most gas station convenient stores in Kentucky. With regular, diet, or caffeine-free options, Ale-8 comes in two liters, plastic bottles, glass bottles, and cans. But, if you're going to try it for the first time after reading this post I only ask one thing: Drink it in a glass bottle.

There's something awesomely old-fashioned about drinking soda from a glass bottle with a metal cap, and it just tastes so much better that way. The caps are twist off, so don't let the lack of a bottle opener discourage you, and pick up a six pack the next time you're in the area.