When a new year starts, many people make the resolution to either cook more or simply learn to cook.  Over the years, I’ve gotten many requests from friends and now readers to teach them how to cook.  One of the things about learning to cook is that you just have to start.  Most of the recipes on my blog are super simple and a great place to start.

When I shared a new soup on Instagram Stories last month, I had lots of requests for the recipe including Tiffany from Street Style Squad, a fellow lifestyle blogger.  You met her last week when we showed you my new at home workout routine. She’s been asking me to teach her how to cook for some time now so we’re starting with this easy and healthy soup.  Perfect for the cold weather we are having!

Everything for this recipe is from Trader Joe’s.  They have so many good things!  You can easily substitute items from your local store if you don’t have one near you.  Speaking of substitutions…if you aren’t big on kale, bok choy is great in here as well.  Really any green you like would work.

A few tips for new cooks:

When I am making a new recipe, I read the entire recipe from start to finish.  I can’t tell you the times I’ve goofed up because I didn’t.  Another tip is to prep all ingredients and place them in small bowls like you see above.  This will ensure you are ready to add the ingredient when the time comes.  It’s hard to stop the cooking process to chop a whole onion or peel and mince ginger then get the correct temperature working again.  Another reason so read the entire recipe is so that you know you have all the tools and ingredients you need.

As a new cook, it is great to only try one new recipe at a time.  Don’t get too ambitious on your first attempt with a main and two sides.  You’ll get frustrated and decide you can’t cook but you can!  It is hard even for me to do 3 new dishes in one night.  I never get it all finished at the same time when I do try.

When you are just starting out, you don’t need a bunch of fancy knives.  I use these two knives the most: 7″ Santoku and French Chef’s Knife.  The first is the one I use most often and have several of.  The French Chef is the one you can see Tiffany and I both use when prepping the ginger: thinly slicing and then rocking it with both hands to finely mince.  All the tools you need for this recipe are below.  You’ll also find this at the bottom of each of my recipe posts on the blog.

I hope this recipe and simple tips inspire you to try this soup and a few other dishes from my Food section.  With just a few try and a bit of planning and you’ll be a great home chef in no time.

Hope you enjoy this soup as much as my family does.  We’ll be having it tonight!

xo

Alicia

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