Like anything purported as easy, biscuits are also notoriously easy to mess up. Simplicity, as it turns out, leaves plenty of room for error. Luckily I have quite a few biscuit makers to call on to discuss the common mistakes people make when preparing biscuits, and even better, the tips you need to know to avoid them all together. So before you get ready to bake up you next batch, here are five mistakes you’ll want to steer clear of.

Have you ever found yourself in the grocery store trying to figure out how many onions to buy to equal one pound? Maybe you’re at a farm stand or market where there isn’t even a scale to weight them on. For those situations, it’s useful to know what a pound of onions looks like. Here are a few key pointers to help you out. Two medium onions, about the size of an average apple or navel orange, weigh about one pound.

Learning how to spot a pound of bananas without the aid of a scale is a game-changer. When you know how many bananas are in a pound, you can decide how many you want to buy and access the price in a snap. One pound of bananas is about three bananas, each about five inches in length. Now the next time you find this fruit on sale, you can quickly do the math to calculate how many to pick up for a pound and beyond. Shopping with an educated eye is powerful stuff!

When I’m on top of my game, I buy and eat berries before there’s even a flicker of mush or mold. But there are times when my berries get away from me and I find them a bit too far gone for eating fresh, but also still useful enough to hold on to. There are quite a few ways to use berries on their last leg, but these are the ways I turn to time and time again. Our Assistant Food Editor Kelli is a bit of a fruit bat.

Clamshell containers and pre-weighed cartons aside, knowing what one pound of raspberries looks like is great for those times when you don’t have access to a scale or need to make a quick judgement call on the amount. Luckily, you can size up a pound a raspberries just by looking at them. Here’s how to do it. One pound of raspberries is about four heaping palmfuls of marble-sized berries.

If you’ve ever gone blueberry picking, you know the general rule of thumb is pick two or three berries, then pop about 10 in your mouth. And while the carefree joy of eating berries fresh off the bush is half the fun, the haul you leave with is the main point. So now you have your bucket of berries. Before getting to the scale, you might want a sense of the weight. Here’s an easy way to size things up. One pound of blueberries is about four heaping palmfuls of berries.

I find kale to be deceptive when it comes to weights and amounts. Like most greens, you’d expect a pound of it to translate to several stalks and numerous cups, but it turns out kale is more conservative than that. Here’s what one pound of curly kale looks like. One pound of kale, leaves and stems included, is about five large stalks, about eight inches long. This same general rule applies for lacinato kale, as long as the stalks are around seven to eight inches long.

You’re at the market, in a rush and quickly need to pick up a pound of cucumbers for tonight’s dinner. There’s no time for a scale or maybe there isn’t even one to use. Here’s how you make sure you’re leaving the store with the pound of cucumbers you need. One pound of cucumbers is two medium cucumbers about five to six inches long and just wide enough to wrap your hands around.

Do you often reach for the bagged carrots at the grocery store only to have them wallow in the fridge, forgotten and unused? Maybe you need to skip the two-pound bag; maybe you even need to skip the one-pound in favor of buying carrots loose. Here’s how to eyeball one pound of carrots so you can scale up or down as needed. One pound of carrots is about 5 medium-size carrots, no wider than an inch, and about 6 inches long.

Want to know how to pick up a pound of fresh broccoli without the aid of a scale? All you need are your eyeballs, your hands, and a general understanding of what one pound of this vegetable looks like. One pound of broccoli, with the stems attached, equates to three stalks, with the stems measuring no larger the an inch in width, and the crowns about the size of a closed fist.

To keep my trips to the grocery store efficient, I’ve learned to judge the weight of a variety of fruits and vegetable simply by eye, with one of my favorite vegetables — cabbage — being no exception. So the next time you’re out food shopping, here’s how to pick up a head of cabbage that weighs about one pound — no scale required. This may come as a surprise, but one pound of cabbage is pretty small — generally only a bit bigger than a softball.

Making a salad tonight and have to swing by the grocery store or farm stand in a hurry? Well, if you’re looking to pick up a pound of tomatoes without relying on a scale, here’s how to do it. One pound of tomatoes equates to three tomatoes roughly the size of a baseball. Each tomato should fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

Need to grab a pound of oranges and don’t have a scale available? Here’s how to pick up a pound by sight. A pound of oranges is about 2 medium-sized pieces of fruit, close to two inches in diameter. They should fit in your hand, much like baseball. This applies to oranges of all varieties, as long as you stick to this basic size principle.

Lemons are deceptive. I’ve stood in the produce aisle countless times marveling at the range of sizes they come in. Picking up a pound of lemons that haven’t been pre-bagged largely depends on the individual size of the lemons you select. One pound of lemons is about four average-sized lemons, with average being a lemon you almost completely cover when holding it in your hand.

When peach season is upon us and the cobbler recipes are calling, nothing beats heading to the farmers market or farm stand to purchase fruit for dessert. If you find yourself without a scale and need to ensure you leave with a pound, here’s how to assess a pound of peaches by sight. I use the one-hand, two-fruits test when buying peaches by sight. I look for two peaches that can fit in one outstretched hand pretty comfortably. Then I buy four of them that meet that criteria.

What a pound of grapes looks like will surprise you. So often, we get into the habit of buying fruits and vegetables that have been pre-measured and pre-packaged for us — and while the convenience can’t be beat when we’re in a rush, it does disconnect us from knowing what a pound should look like. Here’s how you can confidently purchase a pound of grapes by sight. One pound of grapes is about two swags that are six to seven inches in length.

So you’ve decided to ditch the pre-packaged spinach in favor the lush bundles you see nestled amongst the other greens in the produce aisle. Or perhaps you’re at the farmers market or in your own garden and looking to harvest a pound for dinner. Here’s how you pick up a pound of spinach without the aid of a scale. One pound of spinach (with the stems still attached) is about two large bundles or bouquets, each only slightly too large to wrap one hand around.

While there’s always good reason to rely on the scale when you need specific amounts, at the grocery store I’ve found immense value in being able to estimate the weights of vegetable simply by sight and feel. Being able to do this is a skill, one that you can easily develop by first educating your eye, and then putting into practice. Here’s a list of what one pound of common vegetables looks like and a few general tips on how to size them up without a scale.

While there’s always good reason to rely on the scale when you need specific amounts, I’ve found immense value in being able to estimate the weight of fruit simply by sight and feel. Being able to do this is a skill — one that you can easily develop by first educating your eye, and then putting into practice. Here’s a list of what one pound of common fruit looks like and a few general tips on how to size them up without a scale.

How do you improve upon something as pure and simple as the Rice Krispies Treat? By taking this minimalist dessert and giving it the maximalist treatment. From the small changes in how it’s prepared to ingredient upgrades and mix-ins, here are five ways to make a better Rice Krispies Treat. Between the rice cereal and the marshmallows, there’s zero fat in this recipe. And as we all know, fat is where the flavor’s at.

Maybe you don’t even need to be talked into adding fruit to your tomato salad because you’re well aware of tomato’s classification as a fruit. And perhaps you’re also aware of how its inherent acidity is the most welcome guest in a too-sweet fruit salad. If, however, the combination of tomato and fruit baffles you or leaves you skeptical, permit me to do some convincing.

Just like there are people who don’t like their food touching and people who want it all tossed together in a bowl (me!), there are people who like their food hot and people who don’t mind eating it at room temperature (me, again!). Now of course we’re talking about these things in terms of black and white, so while you might waffle one way or the other, truth is, we all have our preferences.

If Hamilton taught us anything about flipping the script on American stories, it’s that you have to play to your strengths to be successful and you shouldn’t hesitate to remix the familiar. So if Thanksgiving is a performance of America’s most-hallowed dinner, make this year the remix. Ditch the turkey (or keep it — that’s cool too), have a meal of only sides, break out that Tofurky, and most definitely serve lasagna. Yep, lasagna.

My number-one rule for eating better is changing the way I eat breakfast, and usually that means eating more than toast. Lately, a bag of frozen broccoli has been my accomplice in helping me start the day with vegetables so that no matter where the day leads, I’m guaranteed to have started with something green. Here’s how I use this freezer staple to eat a better breakfast. One of my favorite ways to use frozen broccoli for breakfast is to sauté it and add it to toast.