Do you actually know what you want to
do in Minecraft? Because no offense, your question screams "I have no idea what I want, I just press random buttons until something happens".
NEI gives you a list of recipes. All of them do different things. Look at the items in the output slots: if you want to have those items, you use that recipe. If you want a different item, you use a different recipe. There is no "most optimized" method. One recipe for one result. You want it, you use it, you don't want it, you don't use it. Yes or no. Completely binary.