Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely! Scale up or down to your heart's content. Just watch those baking times when doubling recipes - my first attempt at a double-batch of brownies had a molten center that was... let's call it 'creative.' My small apartment still smelled like chocolate for days! Need help with specific adjustments? Drop me a note!

First, breathe. Second, check my 'Recipe Notes' for tested substitutions. I never suggest swaps I haven't tried myself in my tiny kitchen with my limited budget. Some happy accidents: plain yogurt works for buttermilk, applesauce can replace oil, and that time I used coffee instead of water in chocolate cake? Game changer.

Yep! Newer recipes have all the nutrition info listed. I'm slowly updating older posts (it's just me here, wearing all the hats!). Remember these are estimates based on standard brands - your actual numbers might vary depending on whether you're like me and consider 'a sprinkle of cheese' to mean half the block.

Look for my 'Emergency Dinners' collection! These are the recipes that have saved me when I realize it's 6:30pm and I haven't thought about dinner yet. Each one has been tested during real-life hunger emergencies, including the night my smoke detector decided 'medium heat' was too ambitious.

Please do! Some of my most-loved recipes came from reader suggestions. The legendary banana bread French toast? A reader named Julie sent me that idea after a brunch disaster. I especially love family recipes with stories - my grandmother taught me that food tastes better when it has history.

Check out my 'Real World Meal Plans'! These are literally what I cook each week in my actual life. I include shopping lists organized by store section (because backtracking through Trader Joe's is my personal nightmare), prep-ahead steps for Sunday afternoons, and labeled 'must be quick' nights for when I have evening plans.

The 'Grandma's Secret Dumplings,' 'Can't-Mess-Up Roast Chicken,' and 'Chocolate Cake That Got Me Invited Back' consistently get the most love (and the most stains on my printed copies). You'll find these and more in my 'Reader Favorites' collection - they're crowd-tested and LiLi-approved!

Use those filter buttons at the top of the recipe page! I've tested each dietary modification myself because there's nothing worse than a gluten-free cake that tastes like cardboard (my first attempts were... humbling). And yes, my lactose-intolerant best friend taste-tests all the dairy-free options.

Is water wet? Seasonal cooking is my jam! I hit the farmers market weekly and have the vegetable drawer to prove it. Check out my 'This Week at the Market' collection to see what's worth buying now. Winter tomatoes? Hard pass. But winter citrus makes my tiny apartment smell amazing - worth every penny!

Read the ENTIRE recipe before starting! I still mess this up sometimes and end up with flour everywhere while frantically searching for the mixer parts. I include tons of visual cues like 'batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter' or 'it might look separated but keep whisking!' because cooking terms can be weirdly vague.

Every recipe includes storage tips tested in my real-life fridge with my embarrassing collection of mismatched containers. I'm a huge fan of cook-once-eat-thrice (small household problems!), so I'll always tell you how long things really last and how to revive them when they get sad and dry.

Look for my 'Freezer-Friendly' tag! These recipes have survived being forgotten in my overcrowded freezer, then thawed and reheated weeks later when I'm too tired to cook. I'll tell you exactly how to wrap things (freezer burn is real, friends), what to add fresh after thawing, and how to reheat without creating sad food puddles.

Welcome to the delicious chaos! Start with my 'Cooking Baby Steps' collection - these are the recipes that built my confidence when I was still burning boxed mac and cheese. Each includes extra hand-holding, step-by-step photos taken in my poorly-lit kitchen, and notes about what cooking terms actually mean in real life.

Through spectacular failures and small victories! Check out my 'Kitchen Lessons' pages where I share everything I've figured out through trial and error. From how to cut onions without crying (spoiler: nothing really works) to roasting a chicken without setting off alarms. My #1 tip? Buy a cheap meat thermometer - game changer!

Nope! Everything's free and accessible to everyone. Though if you sign up for my newsletter (zero pressure!), you'll get my weekly meal plan and those random kitchen discoveries that don't merit a full blog post but might change your cooking life - like using a cheese grater for frozen butter.

Fresh recipes drop every Tuesday and Friday - after being tested multiple times (my neighbor probably wonders why she smells banana bread every week). The newsletter crew gets a sneak peek the night before, which is my subtle way of bribing you to subscribe.

Click the bookmark icon to save anything to your collection, or use the printer-friendly version if you're old-school like me. I have a chaotic recipe binder with splatter marks on all the good pages - sometimes technology is no match for a well-worn piece of paper with handwritten notes!

I love hearing from fellow kitchen adventurers! Click the 'Message Me' button or email hello@lilicooks.com. I try to respond within a few days, though sometimes I get swamped after posting something unexpectedly controversial like 'why I don't peel carrots' (who knew this would cause such drama in my comments section!).

Please do! Just tag @LiLiCooks so I can see what you made - it absolutely makes my day to see my recipes in your kitchen! Your photos, comments, and even your 'I substituted everything and it was a disaster' stories keep me going. The cooking fails are often more educational than the successes anyway!