Pork Loin

1 (4- to 5-pound) boneless pork loin
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup coarse-grain mustard
8 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons rosemary

Grease pan, and rub salt and pepper over the pork loin. Make a paste with the remaining ingredients, and rub on the pork loin. Bake in oven at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

— Mary House

Lord, Ain’t the Gravy Good: The Vasgaard Family Cookbook

Elizabeth Tucker Vasgaard was known to throw a party. At every gathering, there were two things: good food and a poem. In the poem, everything else on the table tastes terrible, but, “Lord, ain’t the gravy good.” The poem is funny, but the message resonates.

In 2009, Vasgaard was working on this cookbook with her granddaughter-in-law, Page Hall Bowman, when Vasgaard died unexpectedly at 88 years old. Most of the family wondered if the cookbook would be completed. But Bowman and her cousin Kristen Vasgaard pressed on and finished the book in 2010, once again proving that even when it seems everything on the table seems bad, there’s always something good you can take away.

To order a copy, contact Vicki Bowman at (828) 322-8010, vivibowman@gmail.com, or 23 Eighth Avenue NE, Hickory, N.C. 28601.

Additional recipes from Lord Ain’t the Gravy Good that appeared originally with this one:
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