Hot Summer Days

We're having company arrive in one week which means housecleaning for me, I have peaches that I bought on sale to make more ginger peach jam at the end of the week, our very large yard needs to be mowed, my garden needs to be weeded, and on top of it all, the forecast says 90 for the next three days, a veritable heatwave here in the Upper Midwest. What's a cook to do?

Dinner is going to be light fare but a family meal. I'm going to troll my garden, looking for ripe vegetables. I know that green beans and wax beans are ready. If I'm lucky, some cherry tomatoes will be ready too, and maybe a zucchini or some radishes. I think a kohlrabi is ready to go too. I have a hankering to try my hand at French bread, so I am tackling Phoebe's French Bread on Bread-Net, one of my favorite bread recipe sites: www.reciperascal.com/frenchbr.html. My rough idea is to pick some veggies and roast them with a little olive oil, a little spice in a 425 degree oven on a jelly roll pan. Cherry tomatoes, beans, and zucchini are "soft" and will all roast in 10 minutes. Radishes, potatoes, and onions are hard root vegetables and take 45 minutes. Just because of the heat, I'm opting for the short roast time. I'll thaw some pork chops, rub them with a mix of pepper, salt, thyme, and garlic, then brown them in a skillet with some olive oil and butter, cooking about 5 minutes per side for 1/2" thick chops. Warm french bread, roasted vegetables, and herbed pork chops will make a quick, easy, and lovely summer dinner!