Whether you're a newlywed, a new college student or just someone trying to eat less fast food, novice chefs all seem to make the same mistakes at least once. By avoiding these 5 common ones, you will be well on your way to enjoying cooking and it's results. And for a recipe that tests your new skills but tastes as good as mom used to make, try this delicious chicken tortilla soup.

5 Tips for Kitchen Newbies 1. Boiling Water. Generally boil the water first and then add the item (rice and noodles for instance.) Eggs are the main exception. Put them in the cool or room temp water so they don't break before boiling. Potatoes can go either way. 2. Freezing your Leftovers. Almost everything you cook freezes well and then thaws as good as new EXCEPT potatoes. The best space saving tip for freezing almost anything is Ziploc freezer bags. 3. Measuring. You need to use a glass measuring cup for liquid and the graduated ones for dry or the resulting quantities will not be accurate. Plus you can see a lot better when pouring liquid into the glass. 4. Thickening. Best advice to avoid the lumps when thickening a recipe is to dissolve the flour or corn starch in COLD water before adding to the recipe. If you still have some small lumps, whisk in a figure 8 or pour through a strainer. 5. Read your Recipe. If it requires an ingredient cooked, it will specifically call that out. Noodles, rice and meats are some of the key ingredients that may need to be cooked before adding to a recipe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe - So Easy and So Good 2 chicken breasts cooked or 2 cans of chicken (packaged like tuna fish) 1 can chicken broth 1 can V8 juice 1 can cheddar cheese soup 1 can corn 1 can black beans 1/3 pack taco seasoning mix chopped up tortilla chips (to sprinkle on top once cooked) optional: roasted red pepper to taste, cooked rice

If you choose to use the cans of chicken, the instructions are as simple as: 1. Open cans 2. Heat on stove over medium heat 3. Serve with chopped up tortilla chips on top

Another equally simple way though is to cook in a crock pot. Put the chicken into the crock pot with the V8, chicken broth, cheddar cheese soup and taco seasoning mix. Heat on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours. Chicken will be so tender that it will be easy to shred it with two forks in the crock pot once cooked. Add the other ingredients and serve. I like the 90 second microwavable rice from Uncle Bens because my husband can add it to his but I prefer it without.

One last fun fact: oven to crock pot conversion 350 for 1 hour in the oven is equal to 6-8 hours on low in the crock pot 300 for 30 minutes in the oven is equal to 3-4 hours on low in the crock pot.