Category: Family Recipes

Veggie Pizza

February 18, 2026

You may have seen this recipe before. We borrowed it from a Pillsbury flyer years ago. It is a family favorite.

Ingredients:

2 ea. rolls crescent roll dough

8 oz. sour cream

2-3 Tbs. horse radish sauce or horse radish

Green onions chopped

Tomatoes chopped

Broccoli florets chopped

Other vegetables that your family likes, such as mushrooms, celery, or cauliflower.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the crescents out on a baking sheet and flatten to form a solid sheet. Puncture with a fork to prevent bubbling. Bake in the oven at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Mix the sour cream and the horseradish or sauce until well distributed. Spread over the cooled crust. Layer the vegetables over the sauce and cut them to serve. Refrigerate before and after serving.

I know some of you have trouble feeding vegetables to your family. Our daughter, who claimed she did not like onions, ate this as a child and serves it to her kids. Most kids will eat some vegetables if prepared in a fun, appetizing dish. Pick the ones they will eat. You might need to make each pizza half with different ingredients for certain family members.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Roast Beef

February 11, 2026

Do you like nice, sliced, roast beef cooked the way you like it? Cindy and I do. It is expensive in restaurants and almost as bad at the grocery store. This recipe was for prime rib when we found it. We have modified it to be used for any cut of beef we may have.

Ingredients:

Beef Roast

Salt, pepper, and other seasonings you like

Vegetables

Directions:

Preheat oven to 550 degrees F.

Prepare the thawed roast in any appropriate baking dish. I use a metal pan lined with aluminum foil. Season to your preference on both the top and bottom. Use any seasoning that you want. On the one in the picture, the meat was seasoned with a Chicago steak seasoning we like.

Add your vegetables for your side dish to this pan. Season them as you wish. I just used salt and pepper on celery, carrots, onion, and potatoes. That’s what we enjoy. Cover with foil.

Here’s the hard part. Place in a preheated 550-degree oven for your preference:

5 minutes per pound for rare

6 minutes per pound for medium

7 minutes per pound for well done

Set the timer. When the timer goes off, turn off the oven. Reset the timer for two hours. Do not open the oven door from the time you put the dish in until the timer goes off the second time. This is important. You do not want the oven to lose any of the heat.

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Follow the directions, and any beef roast will come out the way you like it. Don’t know if you like your meat rare, medium, or well done? Rare is still bloody in the middle, medium is red in the center, and well done is tender and moist but with no pink in the thickest part. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is.

We’ve used this recipe for many years. I wish we had it when our kids were still home. The first day, we serve it with brown gravy to pour over the beef and veggies. The photo shows a four-pound rump roast that I baked for twenty-eight minutes. Then I turned off the oven and set the timer for two hours. We like ours well done. What do you think?

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

 Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

February 1, 2026

Can you believe a cookie that is soft and can be modified almost as universally as you wish?

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate chips, Kisses, Rolos, M&Ms, or any candy

Instructions

Mix peanut butter, egg, and vanilla, and drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Place one of your candies on top of the dough or push it inside, and roll the dough ball around it before it is set on the pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Remember, how I said you could modify it? A mini–Reese’s Cup, Milk Dud, caramel, gummy bear, peanut, or anything else you want could be added in or on these soft cookies. Do not press with a fork, and remove from the cookie sheet five minutes after removing from the oven. Enjoy.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Southwest Chicken

January 24, 2026

Ingredients:

Chicken breast

Sliced Cheese

Salsa

Oil

Directions:

Notice something different about this recipe. There are no quantities. These depend on the number of servings you need and your other preferences. For my wife and I, we use one large boneless skinless chicken breast. Split it in half to make the slices thinner for cooking.

Put a tablespoon of oil in a skillet and season to your taste, and fry the breast pieces for about four minutes on each side. No need to bread them. Brown them as you wish. Check to make sure they are cooked through.

Add two tablespoons of salsa to the top of each breast. Layer your cheese over the salsa and allow it to melt a little. We use a slice of provolone with a top layer of American or cheddar cheese. Use the ones that you like or that you have.

That is the great part of this dish. Customize the quantities, flavors, and side dishes to provide what you enjoy. We serve rice, noodles, or whatever we are in the mood for. I have shared our fried rice and will provide other choices that we use in future columns. Enjoy.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Fried Rice

January 17, 2026

I will not call this Chinese or any other kind of dish. It is a combination of many styles we have enjoyed. Springfield Style Cashew Chicken is best served with fried rice. That is our opinion. If you want more than just the white rice that some cashew chicken joints here serve, this may be what you need.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (I use one cup of Minute Rice prepared per package.)

1 Tsp butter or olive oil. (I prefer butter.)

1 small onion (Chopped as fine as you want it.)

1 egg

¼ cup water

Soy Sauce (I use one Tablespoon. This is to give the rice a tan color.)

You can double or triple these ingredients and use as large a skillet as you need to accommodate the size of your family or guests. If you like brown or another kind of rice, try it in this recipe. You can also add carrots, peas, chopped water chestnuts, or diced bamboo shoots for more of an oriental feel. Many of the restaurants in Springfield change this dish to fit their cuisine.

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a skillet or wok and add the onion. Sauté the onion for three minutes or so until it is translucent (almost clear). When the onion is cooked through, scramble the egg and immediately add the precooked rice.

Allow this mixture to begin to brown slightly, and before it dries, add the water mixed with the soy sauce. Stir together and allow the soy sauce to brown the rice. The rice needs to be moist and well mixed with the onion and egg.

If I make cashew chicken, I put the finished rice in an ovenproof dish and place it in my warmed oven with my chicken as I cook it. Refer to my column a week ago (January 11, 2026) on how to make the Springfield Style Cashew Chicken.

I serve this with chopped green onions if I am not using it under the cashew chicken and sauce, which is also topped with green onions and cashews. That is why it is called cashew chicken. If you do not like onions or cashews, leave them off.

When we prepared this rice and cashew chicken for our family, we served it family style. The chicken was on a plate, the rice in its dish, green onions, and cashews in their dishes. Our oldest daughter did not use the nuts, our youngest left the onions in the bowl, and our middle child ate the leftover rice any time she could.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Springfield Style Cashew Chicken

January 11, 2026

I wrote a column entitled “Springfield Style Cashew Kitty”, and published it on September 17, 2024. I promised to share my recipe for Cashew Chicken at a future date. I finally am going to do that. Unlike most other websites, I will provide the recipe first, then offer my comments on it.

Ingredients:

1 large chicken breast (boneless, skinless)

1-2 cups flour

Salt to taste (About 2 teaspoons)

Pepper to taste (About 1/2 teaspoon)

Oil for frying

1 cup Milk

1 egg

2 cups chicken broth or bullion

4 Tsp. Corn Starch

4 Tsp. Soy Sauce

Cashews and Chopped Green Onions for toppings

Instructions:

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Place the flour into a zipper bag and add salt and pepper to taste. Seal and shake to mix. Drop the chicken into the bag, zip it shut, and shake until it’s coated. Allow to sit in the flour for twenty to thirty minutes.

Heat one inch of oil in a skillet or wok. You can use a deep fryer if you have one. The oil should be 350 degrees F. I preheat my oven to 170 degrees F. That is the lowest my oven will go. This is to keep the fried chicken warm as you get it cooked.

While the oil is heating, mix the milk and egg together in a dish large enough to submerge the chicken. You may need more milk and eggs, depending on the quantity of chicken. Allow it to soak for ten minutes and then return it to the flour mixture. Do not overload the skillet or fryer. Cook until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

To make your sauce: Mix the corn starch and soy sauce with ½ cup of cold water. It must be cold water. Bring the broth or bullion to a boil. Stir the water, corn starch, and soy sauce mixture into the boiling broth. Remove from the heat as soon as it thickens as much as you want. If it thickens more than you want, dilute with a little water.

Serve the chicken over or beside rice. I like fried rice and will give you my version next week. My wife and I prefer the chicken and sauce over the rice sprinkled with green onions and cashews. We also serve with stir fried vegetables on the side. These can be found in the freezer section of most markets. Choose a mix you like and prepare according to directions on the package. Enjoy.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger