Given the background description of some cooking related query, summarize the question into a title

I am working on a scratch chicken, vegetable orzo soup. I'm not following any particular recipe, just shooting from the hip. I usually come up with a good meal but the problem I always run into though is with gauging how much pasta (or barley or rice) to add to a soup and keep it at all balanced. Protein and veggies are easy since those ingredients usually do not change in size during cooking but whenever I use a starch that changes in volume while cooking I end up with a soup that is either starch heavy (too much grain or pasta) or starch light (too much veggie and protein in relation to the starch.)So my basic question is: I have a half cup of dry orzo sitting at the ready. How many cups will that half cup turn into after cooking in soup stock? I am using orzo right now but would also be interested in seeing similar information for other types of pasta and any soup-suitable grains. Any rules of thumb or ideas for different approaches would be appreciated as well.Thanks!
How to gauge orzo's change in volume from dry to cooked for a soup?

I was making pancakes that called for melted butter in the recipe and when I added cold milk the butter re-solidified. How did that mess up the pancakes? Was the texture more dense and less fluffy? So I presume this batter could not be made ahead of time and refrigerated?
Melted butter or not for pancake batter?

Can I use sprouting vegetables? Are they poisonous? When cooked, does the sprouting have an effect to foods taste?Can I use my potatoes or carrots if they already has some roots...?How about when my onion is sprouting?

Are vegetables poisonous if they have roots, are sprouting or are many weeks old?

