Cooking and hospitality held a very important place in the family culture of Dr. Patrick J. Schloss, president of Valdosta State University.  

“From an early age, I remember my mother emphasizing the importance of food and drink in making guests feel comfortable,” he said. “My first wife, Cindy, shared this belief and earned a bachelor’s degree in food service management. While poor college students, we frequently developed and tested what we would call ‘20-cent meals.’”

Examples would be wrapping a hot dog in refrigerator biscuits, lining the bottom of a pan with ground beef and topping with macaroni and cheese, or placing a stuffing mix of minute rice, ground beef and dried onion soup in a bell pepper, he said.

“We raised three kids, all of whom are more than familiar with these 20-cent recipes. In fact, Cindy became a professor of food service management at Penn State and was very proud of her culinary skills. When my son was 8 years old, he was asked to contribute his mother’s favorite recipe to the school cookbook. He was proud to do it without her knowledge. She was devastated to see Dr. Cindy Schloss’ recipe for ‘Tater Tots’ in the cookbook — Place Tater Tots in a pan, bake and serve.”

Cindy passed away and Maureen, a lifelong friend, joined the family.  

“(Maureen) is a wonderful baker specializing in Irish foods,” Schloss said. “Her mom (the late Mary Smith of Buffalo, N.Y.)’s best recipe was a pot roast. The most cherished item when they liquidated the family estate was the cast-iron skillet used to prepare this prized dish.

“Hospitality has been an important part of my career. I love to make people feel like our home is their home. There is no better way to do this than through serving a favorite dish.”  

Schloss’ family migrated from Lebanon to West Virginia just before the second World War.

“The Lebanese tradition of cooking and hospitality is among the best in the world,” he said. “I remember Grandma (the late Labibi Francis of Manington, W.Va.) serving dishes that were simply passed from person to person, and guests used flat bread to dip from the community bowl. Grandma emphasized that sharing food from the same bowl was a cultural sign of friendship.

“I love to recreate her ‘recipes.’ My favorites are Falafel, Hummus, Tabouleh, Shawarma, Baba Ganoush, Baklawa, Kibbeh, and Manoushi. Probably the most important thing I have learned from Grandma and the Lebanese cuisine is that there is no such thing as a recipe — only a general idea as to how the dish should turn out.”  

Schloss said his favorite item to cook and greatest challenge is Lebanese flat bread.

“Grandma made it about 16 inches in diameter and paper-thin. While cooking, the bread inflated to football-size. My challenge is to get loaves to inflate the same way. I am told by relatives that her cast-iron gas oven heated to 800 degrees or so, and she cooked them on the floor of the oven. The modern oven is not as hot and does not get as hot, and you cannot use the floor of the oven. I am challenged to produce as reliable results.”

Schloss’ culinary efforts have been awarded.

“We created the ‘Zucchini Turtle Cake’ eight years ago for a special competition at the Columbia County Fair in Bloomsburg, Pa. The competition was sponsored by the Hershey Chocolate Company. We won the blue ribbon and advanced to the national competition at Hershey, Pa. We also won the ‘participant’ award in a number of local competitions.”

Schloss and his wife share other interests besides cooking.

“Maureen and I love to hunt and fish. As the kids grew up, we played a lot of golf. Tarah (Miller) qualified for the NCAA national championship three years in a row and played for Wake Forest and St. Francis. Becca (Kinney) lettered at Notre Dame. Both work for national firms in Washington, D.C. My son, Patrick, gave up golf for a life as an academic. He earned a doctorate from Cornell University and is a professor of Microbiology at the University of Michigan Medical School.”

For the viewing pleasure of our readers today, Schloss has prepared recipes with a Lebanese-flair for a Fourth of July celebratory meal.   

“All of the recipes have as ingredients vegetables and herbs that become available from the garden around the Fourth of July,” he said. “They are easy to prepare and perfect to eat on a hot summer day. Finally, they are inspired by traditional Lebanese dishes though not fully Mediterranean in their character. I can proudly say that they are original Schloss family recipes that are favorites among my three children, Pat, Becca, Tarah, and seven grandchildren.”

— Cucumber Salad. “This recipe is derived from a traditional Lebanese cucumber salad. My grandmother and relatives always grew more cucumbers than could feed an army. It seemed that they were ready for the table around the Fourth of July. This light summer salad could be prepared in a moment’s notice and exuded freshness and healthy eating. My mother (Pauline Schloss of Crete, Ill.) would say that it took more calories to digest than were in the food itself. Grandmother served a similar salad with lubne (Lebanese yogurt) or olive oil. This variation added a bit to the calories but was still quite healthy.  Whether with oil or not, the dish always made us burp. Grandma normally respond with an Arabic word that sounded like ‘suckthine.’ We asked my mother what it meant. She loosely interpreted it as ‘you have been blessed by God with good health.’ She took pride that her cooking was responsible.”

Zucchini Dollars. “This again is a bit of a Lebanese adaptation and makes full use of one of the more prolific Fourth of July vegetables. Our garden is typically overrun by zucchini at this time of the year. In fact, they say around Grandmother’s house that a crime spree typically occurs around the Fourth as people break into cars to leave bags of zucchini. It has been a favorite of my children as the ‘dollars’ are a flavor-filled finger food. They are very easy to prepare and very easy to eat. They can be a vegetable side dish or served as an hors d’oeuvres. We used to serve them alone as the cheese and vegetable, with a glass of milk, constitute a modest spectrum of the major food groups.”

Summer Sandwich Roll-up. “Of all the recipes, this might be the one we serve the most. It is also the one that draws the highest marks as a main course from the kids. It is easy to prepare and easy to serve as picnic and tailgate fare. While we have described a pepperoni filling, the truth is that you can roll about anything into the loaf. We have used broccoli, white sauce, tomatoes, sausage, leftover turkey, olives … you name it. If you can eat it, you can put it into the roll-up. For fun, try the ‘beany weeny roll-up.’ Spread the dough, smooth on a can of chili, and layer thin slices of hot dogs. Add a little cheddar cheese. Roll and bake. As a young family with very limited resources, the kids came to expect that the leftovers from the previous day would appear in the next day’s roll-up.”

Zucchini Turtle Cake. “While in high school, Cindy entered the ‘Penny Flame’ Cherry Pie Baking Contest Penny Flame was the corporate mascot for a large Midwestern gas company. She won the local competition and traveled to the state capital for the state competition. She was assigned a ‘modern oven’ with unfamiliar controls and accidently cooked her pie on the ‘preheat’ setting. She never forgot the disaster of a petrified pie. Neither did members of her family. As a shot at redemption, she entered the Hershey chocolate cake cook-off at the Columbia County Fair in Bloomsburg, Pa. She won $20 and the blue ribbon. She was proud to advance to the national competition in Hershey, Pa. She did not win, but was believed to have finished a close second.

“Thankfully, family stories shifted from the grave loss in Springfield, Ill., to the big victory at Hershey, Pa. The kids and I worked hard with her in developing the recipe. It started as a simple zucchini cake. Knowing that the Hershey chocolate company would be doing the judging and awarding prizes, we decided that the more chocolate, the better. There is over a cup and a half of chocolate powder in the recipe. We figured that if she would have added more, she would have won the national prize. The zucchini plays a minimal part in the flavor of the cake — it is hard for the humble vegetable to overpower a cup and a half of Hershey cocoa. The value of zucchini was to make us feel less guilty. Anything zucchini has to be good for you.”

Cucumber Salad

3 cucumbers

2 medium Vidalia onions

1 green pepper

2 Tablespoons freshly picked mint

1/2 cup rice or wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

pepper, to taste

2 Tablespoons sugar

Peel and slice three cucumbers thinly. Rinse in cold water.

Thinly slice onion and green pepper. Add vinegar, mint, and olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving, marinate for 15-30 minutes to combine flavors.

Zucchini Cake

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups zucchini, grated, seeded, and drained

1/2 cup Hershey’s dark cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Divide mixture into two 8-inch cake pans that have been greased and floured.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Deep Chocolate Frosting

1 stick margarine

3/4 cup milk

2 cups Hershey’s dark cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Cream margarine.

Blend in cocoa.

Add remaining ingredients.

Beat on high until fluffy.

Turtle Filling

15 caramels

1 Tablespoon milk

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Place caramels and milk in a bowl, and microwave until caramels are melted and smooth in texture.

Turtles

15 pecan halves

5 Tablespoons caramel

Deep Chocolate Frosting

Arrange 3 pecan halves as spokes in a wheel.

Place 1 Tablespoon caramel in center.

Pipe a large dot of frosting in center.

Decorating Cake

Spread melted caramel on top of the first cake layer.

Cover caramel with chopped pecans.

Spread 1/2 cup of Deep Chocolate Frosting on top of pecans.

Place second cake layer on top.

Frost sides and top with Deep Chocolate Frosting.

Pipe a frosting edge on bottom and top of cake.

Arrange 5 Turtles on top of cake.

Fourth of July Pepperoni Roll

Bread dough:

2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

1 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups bread flour

Filling:

1/3 pound thin-sliced pepperoni

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

1 finely minced large onion

1 finely minced bell pepper

1 cup sliced mushrooms

salt

pepper

garlic powder

oregano

Prepare dough using a bread machine on the dough cycle. Frozen bread dough can be used as a substitute.

Preparation:

Roll bread dough on a floured surface to about 18-inch square.

Layer the entire surface of the dough with pepperoni, then the cheese, onion, pepper and mushrooms.  

Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Roll tightly from bottom to top. “A couple extra hands help at this step,” Schloss said.

Crimp the ends so the melted cheese cannot escape.

Drizzle the top with tomato sauce or prepared pizza sauce mix.

Sprinkle with oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Place on an oiled and dusted (with corn meal) cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until brown.

Silver Dollar Zucchini

6 silver dollar sized zucchini or yellow squash

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

garlic powder

salt

pepper

Wash but don’t peel squash. Slice about 1/4-inch thick.

Rub an 8×11 baking sheet liberally with butter.

Spread squash rounds on the sheet.

Melt 1/4 cup butter and brush on the squash.

Sprinkle liberally with parmesan cheese, fully covering squash.

Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Broil about 3 inches from the element for about 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve immediately.