Before this time last year, my best efforts involving any sort of cooking is instant noodles, plain egg omelette and the occasional sandwich. And by ‘sandwich’, I mean semi-flat stuff folded in a slice of bread.

A defenseless sammich

When I joined Studio 23′s bootcamp, eating healthy became a priority and the only way you can be sure of what you’re eating is if you prepared it yourself.

You’ve heard this a billion times… it’s far healthier and cheaper to make your own meals, but for someone who can’t tell one green leafy vegetable from the other and is generally afraid of singeing her eyebrows off, anything more complicated than boiling an egg is daunting. Also? Food preparation and cooking takes too long. Think of all the stuff on my Facebook newsfeed that I’ll miss!

It doesn’t at all help when well-meaning friends have all these wonderful recipes they want to share with you and your eyes glaze over mid-explanation because you don’t understand a thing they are saying.

When I finally started, it was using a combination of basic cooking/food combination skills that I already know. My first creation was a simple tuna pasta salad. It was a success. It also contained under 5 ingredients. It didn’t kill anyone who ate it.

Cooking with 5 ingredients or less isn’t a new idea. I love Stone Soup for the 5 ingredient recipes and for the wake up call that good food can come together quickly with minimal ingredients and preparation time… and without all that fuss with “a pinch of this” and “a dash of that” for some subtle effect that those at Cooking Level 1 won’t likely notice.

Kitchen Noob Survival Guide was named based on various suggestions by my Facebook friends (thanks guys!). I like how the abbreviation ‘KNS’ also stands for ‘like shit’ in Hokkien, which is something every rookie cookie will experience in the course of trying to make something to eat.

Looks like…

My objective here is to help you navigate your kitchen and guide you in creating simple dishes. I try to keep it healthy, but there will be sinful treats every now and then! Let’s cook!

For the full list of blog posts in this series, visit Kitchen Noob Survival Guide.

See the original entry and leave a comment at:

Kitchen Noob Survival Guide