For most recipes I make regularly, I eyeball almost all small measurements. I also eyeball most vegetable amounts, too. Otherwise, I follow what I'm told or what I've been taught by others.
Helpful conversions, as well:
3 tsp = 1 tbsp
2 tbsp = 1/8 cup
4 tbsp = 1/4 cup
8 tbsp = 1/2 cup
16 tbsp = 1 cup
1 part lemon juice to 1 part olive oil - I tend to use 1/8 cup each to make 1/4 cup of dressing (easy to guesstimate in a measuring cup)
salt - as desired
black pepper - as desired
garlic - as desired; feel free to start at around 1 peeled and pressed (or minced) clove, and add more if you want
Mix ingredients either in separate measuring cup or directly into salad. When throwing directly into salad, it's easier to wing it and taste test as you go until it tastes how you want it to taste.
1 part lemon juice to 1 part white wine vinegar to 2 parts olive oil - you can start around 1 tbsp to 1 tbsp to 2 tbsp for a large salad bowl, I believe
salt - as desired
black pepper - as desired
garlic, minced or pressed, or garlic powder - as desired
onion powder - as desired
This really is more of a "use the wing it method" type of recipe. We throw whatever into the salad, wing the above, and taste test it until it matches what we want it to taste like. Feel free to mix it up (haha, a pun).
2 cups sugar (white sugar's fine, brown sugar makes for a softer cookie!)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick oats
An adapted recipe from an old, lovingly cared for family cookbook. Bring the first three ingredients to a boil, and then boil for two minutes while stirring. Remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients in, mix it all together, and drop it by the spoonful (preferably teaspoonful) onto wax paper or an equivalent surface. They will dry on their own and solidify into a solid cookie. The wax paper will help prevent any sticking!
gluten free pasta (or pasta containing gluten) - a full box, so maybe around 9-12 oz of pasta
butter - as desired, a big tbsp or two for a full box is good
cinnamon - as desired (start light, very light, and add on from there)
A thing my mom did with me as a kid that her mom did with her as a kid. Stir butter into cooked pasta and season with desired amount of cinnamon. A small amount goes a long way with this one. Barilla has good and easy to make gluten free pasta, though almost any type of pasta will work here, as well as any shape (like rotini, shells, bow ties, etc).
about one cup or so of cut up vegetables maybe. I use an assortment usually of the following:
onions
bell peppers (orange or red) (0 - 100 scoville)
jalapeños (4,000 - 8,500 scoville)
serrano peppers (10,000 - 23,000 scoville)
wax peppers (1,000 - 15,000 scoville)
green onions
preferred noodles - cooked to packaging instructions; roughly 8-10 oz of noodles. I like to use:
rice noodles
brown rice noodles
black rice noodles
garlic - minced
ginger - peeled, then minced or shredded
sesame seeds - toasted or regular
some water - maybe 1/4 cup
vegetable oil - eyeball around 1-2 tbsp maybe
sesame oil - 2-3 tbsp ish
hot sesame oil - 1/2 tsp OR 1 tsp ish (for heat)
sauce ingredients
brown sugar (dark brown sugar preferably)
honey
squirt of sriracha
gochujang
a mild hot sauce
tamari (or soy sauce, if you're fine with gluten)
aji-mirin
Cook noodles according to packaging instructions. Cut up all vegetables, garlic, and ginger. Heat vegetable oil in a pan, and then add garlic and ginger and stir. Cook for about three minutes or until you can smell the garlic and ginger.
Add vegetables in. A good way to do it is to add regular onions first, cook a little, then add in all types of peppers. Cook for a few minutes. Save green onions for later. Before adding noodles, I like to coat the vegetables in honey and stir them a bit. Then add noodles, water, and all sauce ingredients (either separately, or mixed together in a bowl beforehand) and stir.
The ratio for sauce ingredients is more of a suggestion than a defined thing. Feel free to mess around with it. I like to do about 2-4 tbsp of brown sugar, 2-4 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp tamari, 1 tbsp aji-mirin, a squirt or two of sriracha, maybe 1-2 tsp gochujang, and a few squirts of a mild hot sauce, which I usually guesstimate instead of measuring specifically. Habanero sauce is also good, as is rice vinegar, rice wine vinegar, sweet chili sauce, kung pao sauce (contains gluten), teriyaki (contains gluten), etc. Feel free to experiment.
Cook to desired tenderness. Start at around a minute after adding sauces if you don't want things too soft. Around 30 seconds before finishing, add sesame oil, hot sesame oil, and green onions, stirring well and making sure not to burn anything.
When done, remove from pan and stir in desired amount of sesame seeds. Wipe out pan with wad of paper towels as soon as safely possible to avoid too much hardened sugar caking onto the pan, but only if you safely can.
1 part crystallized honey OR 1 part whipped honey
10 parts raw un-crystallized honey
something like a jar for long term storage
Purposefully leave out raw (not pasteurized) honey to crystallize in a cool place. This will probably take a few weeks. If you already have hardened or whipped honey, step one is complete.
Take crystallized honey and place it in your preferred storage container. You can measure or eyeball the amount, and then add ten times that amount of raw honey (so, for 2 tbsp crystallized honey, you would add 20 tbsp raw honey, which would be 1 1/4 cups). Stir gently for about two minutes. Eyeball when it starts to look thoroughly mixed together and avoid making as many air bubbles as you can.
After that, store covered in a cool place for about seven days. When it's done solidifying, you can spread it on things like toast. As long as you don't eat the entire thing you can use any amount of this honey to make more whipped honey.
1-2 onions - peeled and cut into strips
cinnamon - maybe 1 tsp? (or as desired)
olive oil - 1-2 tbsp ish
salt - maybe 1/2 tsp (or as desired)
pepper - maybe 1/4 tsp (or as desired)
garlic - start around 1 clove, minced or pressed
Heat olive oil in a pan on the stove and when hot, add garlic to pan. Stir fry constantly for about three minutes, or until you can smell the garlic, then add the sliced onions in. Stir regularly and cook to desired tenderness. Add cinnamon in halfway or near the end. Cinnamon will stick to the pan, so try to wipe it out as soon as you can, perhaps while the onions are cooling on a plate. A good side dish and/or topping for meat like beef or lamb.
desired amount of potatoes (about a medium to large pan's worth) - I like baby gold potatoes, but russet works perfectly fine too
pressed garlic (minced also fine) - a pan for me uses maybe 3-5 cloves, but use as many or few as you'd like
rosemary - start around a teaspoon or so and add more as needed
salt - start around a teaspoon maybe
pepper - start around 1/4 teaspoon maybe
olive oil - start around 1-2 tbsp maybe
butter - optional, for greasing pan
Set oven temperature to around 365 degrees Fahrenheit for long cooking; 400 degrees Fahrenheit for short cooking. Long cooking will require 65 minutes or more but taste softer, while short cooking can give it a crisper flavor and take maybe 45-60 minutes.
Cut washed potatoes (with or without skins) into cubed or small chunk shapes and press (or mince) your desired amount of garlic. Either butter the pan or grease the pan with olive oil (or use both) and place potatoes in it. Drizzle olive oil over every potato and then add all spices on top (the salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary).
Cook in the oven for either the long amount or short amount of time. Once done, use a spatula to separate the potatoes from the pan to avoid any crusty sticking.
desired amount of potatoes
desired amount of sliced/chopped onions - preferably around half the amount of potatoes or less
garlic - powder or minced/pressed
salt - maybe 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp depending on amount of potatoes
pepper - a smidge
paprika (or cayenne pepper) - optional
onion powder - optional
vegetable oil - at least one or two tbsp to start with, more for more potatoes
Chop washed potatoes (with or without skins) into cubes or chunks and place them in a pot full of water. Bring this to a boil, and once boiling, set a timer for 6 minutes. When it beeps, test the softness of a potato with a fork; you want them to be soft, like a baked potato. Cook longer if needed. Strain when they get to the correct consistency.
At some point, peel and then chop or slice the onion(s). If using minced or pressed garlic, heat oil in a big enough pan for everything and then add the garlic once the oil is heated. Stir for about three minutes, or until you can smell the garlic. If not, simply heat the oil.
Add in the onions and stir fry them for a few minutes. Add in potatoes and stir. Start at about ten minutes for total cook time, adding the rest of the spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder/onion powder/cayenne etc) in your preferred amount toward the end. Keep the flame around medium-high, and reduce heat as needed while cooking (say, if things start burning or the oil starts splattering). Cook to desired tenderness and preferred taste. Easy to serve in a big bowl.
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