[Dianna]

I don't usually do anything fancy either. How hard is it to peel, boil and mash some potatoes, cook a pork chop, cook some broccoli and throw together a salad? You could even use salad in a bag if you're desperate for time.

Oh, this kind of cooking I can do. I have trouble knowing when broccoli is done though, I always take it off too early. And I can make Very Good chicken enchiladas because my mother taught me that.

But being limited, food gets very boring and I cannot improvise well.

[AnAmericanMother]

Could I recommend an excellent cookbook for expanding from basics into a little more adventurous cooking?

Try the "Joy of Cooking" by Rombauer and Becker. An earlier edition from a junk shop would be even better than the current one.

The authors assume that the reader knows nothing about cooking, and they have organized the book around chapters dealing with basic "how to" - how to pick a cut of meat, how to know when veggies are done, general rules for cake baking, etc. Each chapter on beef, lamb, poultry, veggies, and so forth begins with the general rules on cooking and preparation. They even tell you when it is "safest" to improvise, and there's a whole section on substitutions.

It is my dad's favorite cookbook (he still has his 1936 edition) and mine, too.