A cup is equal to a what? Let the confusion of conversion begin!!

Today, I am going to try my hand at standard recipe notes and measurements. I am often reading through a recipe and find something that seems obscure or I need to cut something in half. When you cook it is always easy to add too little of a spice or some other ingredient...problems start though when you add in too much of something, because once you do, it doesn't come back out...EVER!!

On a side note and because I am a huge fan of using a cookbook and adding in notes as you go. When I was collecting books years ago for my library here at home, someone gave me a collection that had been sitting inside a pair of boxes for years. The books had notes written in them from generations of family members and you could see stains from fingers that had turned pages. I read them all carefully and discovered that some of the books went as far back as the 1920's. I contacted the person who had given them to me and she said that it was ok to keep them. She wanted them to begin a whole new journey with another family that would enjoy them as much as her grandmother had. When my dream finally comes true, I plan on having them on display so that everyone can learn from the sense of history each one has. I know the little story above does not have much to do with recipe conversions and such, but it just makes me smile when I think of it...now back to the real reason I was typing today.

Here we go with some simple abbreviations...they come in all shapes and sizes, but this will help you get through it ok.


Tablespoons- TBS, Tbs or tbs
Teaspoons-  Tsp, TSP or tsp
Ounce-  oz or OZ
Pound-  lbs or #
Gallon-  Gl, gl or gal
Quart-  QT or qt
Cup-  C
Pint-  pt

Now onto some of those facts to help you convert recipes

3 tsp are equal to 1 Tbs

2 Tbs are equal to 1 fluid ounce

4 Tbs are equal to a 1/4 cup

1 cup is equal to 8 fluid ounces

2 cups is equal to 1 pint

1 pint is equal to 16 ounces

2 pints is equal to 1 quart

1 quart is equal to 32 fluid ounces

4 quarts is equal to 1 gallon

Did you know that the term 'mise-en-place' means...everything in it's place...which is always a good way to go about preparing food. This way you don't have to run around looking for ingredients, pots/pans or cooking untensils while you are in the middle of something important, like making a great Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast With Tomato Relish!!


Some other quick kitchen conversions for when you are cooking...

1 cup of whole milk is equal to 1/2 cup evaporated milk mixed with 1/2 cup of water

1 cup of whole milk is equal to 1 cup of skim milk and 2 tsp of melted butter

1 cup of whole milk is equal to 1 cup of soy milk

If milk conversions are not your cup of cream...

1 cup of heavy cream is equal to 3/4 cup of whole milk and a 1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup of sour cream is equal to 1 cup of yogurt


Hope some of these help out!! I know over the years I have had to run back and forth to my computer to look these sort of things up. Keeping in mind that you don't want to do that running around during your kitchen time...remember  MISE-EN-PLACE and do your conversions ahead of time