Recipe(tried): Orange Dijon Pork Loin with Baked Acorn Squash

Wow, last night was trying. At 5 pm, our 16 y/o daughter called to say that she was on the side of the road - the car had died. My husband and I went to assist her (the roast had been in the oven for 1 hr). After jumping her car, she drove only a few yards and it died again, when she pulled off the road, the snow covered shoulder turned out to be a snowed covered ditch. When I had pulled over, I also went into a snow covered ditch but with my husband, daughter and her girlfriend, pushing we were able to get my van out of the ditch. We called for a tow truck and after 45 minutes, it showed up and the car had to winched out (of course, costing more). I got hom at 6:30pm to pull out the roast and acorn squash, thinking it was overcooked and burnt but to my surprise, it looked great. Then I rushed out the door again to pick up my husband at the car shop where we had the car towed to. Well, anyways, it was 7:30pm before we got to eat. We had the orange-dijon pork loin, baked acorn squash, buttered noodles, applesauce and green beans. Today I am waiting for a new refrigerator to be delivered as my old died. So all of my food is either out on the counter or in coolers.

ORANGE-DIJON PORK LOIN
Southern Living, November, 2000

2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (4-5 pound) rolled boneless pork loin roast
Orange-Dijon Sauce

Combine first 5 ingredients; rub evenly over roast. Place roast in lightly greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Cover and bake 30 more minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 160 degrees. Top with Orange-Dijon Sauce. Yield - 8 servings.

Orange-Dijon Sauce

2 (12 oz) jars orange marmalade
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 large garlic cloves, minced

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Serve with pork loin. Yield - 2 cups

NOTE-I roasted my roast on 350 instead of 325 and as mentioned before it was in the oven for 2-1/2 hrs instead of the 1-1/2 hours and it was cooked just right. Also when I took the string off my roast, it was 2 halves so I separated them and did them as 2 individual roasts instead on 1 large one.

BAKED ACORN SQUASH

Split squash in half, remove seeds and pith. Fill openings with 1-2 tablespoon butter, brown sugar and sprinkle cinnamon on top. I put the squash in the same pan as the roast and they also cooked the 2-1/2 hours and were not overdone.