I just started using cucumber. So far, I've tried to write my steps so that they are very reusable. These were written for mongoid, but they should work with ActiveRecord as well.

CucumberSteps.rb

# I only have recipes named Steak, Lobster
# I have a recipe named Pizza
Given /^I(\sonly)? have a?n?\s?(.+) named (.+)$/ do |only,table,names|
  table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.destroy_all if only
  names.split(', ').each do |name|
    table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.create(:name => name)
  end
end

# I have no recipes
Given /^I have no (.+)$/ do |table|
  table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.destroy_all
end

# the recipe named Steak has no ingredients
Given /^the (.+) named (.+) has no (.+)$/ do |table,name,subtable|
  table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.
    where(:name => name).first.
      send(subtable.pluralize).destroy_all
end

# the recipe named Steak has 3 blank steps
Given /^the (.+) named (.+) has (\d+) blank (.+)$/ do |table,name,number,subtable|
  number.to_i.times do
    table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.
      where(:name => name).first.
        send(subtable.pluralize).create!()
  end
end

# I should have no recipes
# I should have 1 recipe
Then /^I should have (\d+|no) (.+)$/ do |number,table|
  table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.
    count.should == (number=='no' ? 0 : number.to_i)
end

# the recipe named Steak should have 3 steps
# the recipe named Steak should have no ingredients
Then /^the (.+) named (.+) should have (\d+|no) (.+)$/ do |table,name,number,subtable|
  table.singularize.capitalize.constantize.
    where(:name => name).first.
      send(subtable.pluralize).
        count.should == (number=='no' ? 0 : number.to_i)
end

If anyone knows a Rails helper that does singularize.capitalize.constantize in one method, let me know. I wouldn't know what to call it.