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fri10AM - 9PM
sat10AM - 9PM
sun11AM - 6PM
mon10AM - 6PM
tue10AM - 6PM
wed10AM - 6PM
thu10AM - 6PM
fri10AM - 10PM
sat10AM - 8PM
sun11AM - 6PM
mon10AM - 6PM
tue10AM - 6PM
wed10AM - 6PM
thu10AM - 6PM
fri10AM - 7PM
sat10AM - 9PM
sun11AM - 6PM
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The holiday season is filled with art projects - from laying the perfect table and making sure the ornaments on the tree are dispersed in a way that is balanced in an asymmetrical way to create conversation and interest to preparing cuisine art for family and guests and, of course, beautifully wrapping gifts. There is also an art to stuffing stockings, and we went straight to the source for a few tips. ...read more
Inspiration
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It’s a magical thing what a pair of hands can do. ...read more
Inspiration | Local Flavor
Asheville | Annex - Valle Crucis | Boone | Hendersonville | Original - Valle Crucis | Waynesville
According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses make up 99.9% of businesses in the United States. Small businesses are credited with creating just under two-thirds of the new jobs created from 1995 to 2021 according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They account for 43.5% of the nation’s gross domestic product. ...read more
Local Flavor
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... Our favorite foods! Food is universal because everybody’s got ta eat! And the last two months of the year are filled with more than their fair share of family meals, work gatherings, special outings to favorite restaurants, tins filled with homemade cookies and fudge, and the anticipation of food traditions handed down from generation to generation ...read more
At Home | Recipes
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Even before we bought the Mast General Store, we were taken by the beauty of Valle Crucis. We’ve heard people describe the drive out Broadstone Road as traveling through a time portal. In the 1970s, fields in the river bottoms would be filled with tobacco, cabbage, or high with hay to feed cattle that were grazing in the summer pasture. ...read more
Local Flavor | Mast Family Favorites
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The lucky few who have seen the Earth from a different perspective – astronauts - all echo the same viewpoint upon their return. Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut and the first human to go to space, commented, “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it.”
Behind the Scenes | Inspiration
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Well, the holidays are upon us. Everyone's calendars are full of parties, get togethers, and covered dish gatherings. The schedule for family visits is lengthy and covers most of the time between Christmas Eve and Christmas Night. With so many places to go and people to see, it's often not practical to prepare a full meal for your guests. That's where a smattering of hearty appetizers and sweet treats will help tide them over to their next stop.
We've cooked up a table full of ideas that you may want to try at your next gathering at the office or around the tree.
Easy and Tasty Beverage:
Spiced Apple Cider
1 gallon apple juice, cranapple juice, or cider
1 package Raven's Nest Mulling Spices
Mix juice and Raven's Nest Mulling Spices thoroughly and serve either hot or cold.
Here are your starters:
Cheesy Herbed Artichoke Dip
4 teaspoons Big Daddy’s Superb Herb Seasoning
1-2 tablespoons Big Daddy’s Marinade (to taste)
12 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
8 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
8 ounces sour cream
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, finely chopped
1 cup milk
Mix all ingredients together in crock pot or over medium heat on the stove top. Heat through until warm and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips, vegetables or wheat crackers.
Cream Cheese and Jelly
1 8 ounce block cream cheese
1 10 ounce jar Spicy Garlic Pepper Jelly or 10-ounce jar Jalapeno Hot Raspberry Jam
Place the softened cream cheese on a serving platter and pour the jelly or jam over it. Serve with crackers. Serving suggestion: Prepare individual crackers with a layer of cream cheese spread topped with a dollop of the pepper jelly. The color is very festive and the taste is sweet with a little kick at the end.
Sweet Treats:
Sweet Potato Cake
1 pound Old Mill of Guilford Sweet Potato Muffin Mix (1/2 bag)
2 eggs
2 ounces butter, margarine, or oil (4 tablespoons) – You can use 4 ounces for extra richness
½-2/3 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup boiling water
Preheat oven to 375°. Beat eggs, add butter, margarine, or oil, and mix well. Then add the nuts and boiling water. Stir until well blended. Fill greased 9-inch x 12-inch pan 2/3 full and bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
When cooled, ice with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below) and garnish with some extra nuts.
Cream Cheese Frosting (from The Food Network)
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.
So hearty, it could be a meal:
Grits Casserole
Grits:
2 cups Old Mill of Guilford Yellow Grits
4 cups water
1 can chicken broth
1 cup milk (or half & half)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
½ stick butter
Mix grits, water, broth, milk, salt, pepper, and butter together in large pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn to low heat and whisk often so the grits don’t get lumpy. Cook until thick (20-30 minutes).
Casserole:
4 cups cooked grits
2 eggs
1 10 ¾ ounce can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces of your favorite grated cheese
¾ cup half and half (may use heavy cream or milk)
½ cup sour cream (optional – for extra creaminess)
1 ½ teaspoons Big Daddy’s Superb Herb Seasoning
2 tablespoons Big Daddy’s Marinade
1 pound cooked sausage (or bacon, crispy and crumbled)
Mix grits, eggs, soup, cheese, half and half, sour cream, herb seasoning, marinade, and sausage together well and pour into 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish. Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes or until brown around the edges and bubbly in the center.
This recipe is very versatile. Add shrimp, crab meat, hash browns, additional eggs, garlic, Tabasco Sauce®, whatever you like! You can also bake it in a 12-inch or 13-inch cast iron skillet or in smaller skillets for individual portions. The casserole freezes well and can be made 1-2 days in advance and heated later.
Creative and beautiful:
Honey, Apple, and Cheese Platter
1 Savannah Bee Raw Honeycomb
2-3 Granny Smith Apples, cored and thinly sliced
Slices of your favorite cheeses
Place the honeycomb in the middle of your platter and surround it with a festive arrangement. Include a knife to cut and serve the honeycomb. You can also add your other favorite fruits like strawberries and blueberries.
If you are trying to trim a few calories to be a bit more health conscious, you can substitute apple sauce (1/3 cup), a pureed banana (1/4 cup), or plain yogurt (1/4 cup) for each egg or 1 cup apple sauce for 1 cup of oil.
No matter how you spend your holidays, we hope they are filled with friends, family, and fun.
Click here to download a pdf of these recipes.