Easy meals for the kitchen newbie!

[NorthernZel]

Vegetable soups are also pretty easy and cheap to do - simply dice up some of your favorite veggies, add some herbs, boil (almost) the crap out of them in some mild broth until they're very tender, and then blend them (with either a blender stick that can be bought pretty cheap in stores or a blender that can handle hot liquids).

(My fave soup is a potato/leek/celery soup with added lo-fat cream and bacon sprinkles.)

[Kogarashi]

Zel's soup method is also a pretty good use for extra lettuce if you happen to be a member of a farm share and get tired of salads all summer long.

[Barracuda]

Another great item to make many different meals easy is a small electric indoor grill, George Foreman style. This lets you quickly and easily grill any kind of meat you want. I put burgers, hot dogs, chicken, pork and beef through mine, and it cooks them all perfectly. Then I just make some veggies and a side dish, like salad or instant mashed potatoes. Maybe pickles. And of course, you can use sauces or marinades with the meat you cook, just like a regular grill. And they're usually easy to clean. Just remember to empty the grease reservoir.

Another basic is a basic roux blanc or white sauce. With this basic recipe, you can make any kind of cream based sauce you want--add garlic and parmesan and you have an alfredo, add mushroom and garlic and you have mushroom sauce, add cheddar and sliced hot dogs and you have mac and cheese sauce. Just mix with the appropriate pasta.

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp white flour
1 cup milk
(Just double or triple the recipe as necessary.)
Melt butter in sauce pan. Add flour and stir into paste (should be mildly wet but not too much.) Add milk and heat on medium-high, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and becomes more difficult to stir. Add other ingredients and cook (melt cheese, or cook mushroom, or whatever else you want.) For a great baking sauce, make the base recipe, add a few dashes of salt and pepper, about 1 tsp dill and 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/4 cup mayo and stir until creamy (take off heat before adding mayo.) Pour over lightly browned chicken in greased baking dish and heat at 350 for about 50 minutes or until juices run clear. Can also be used on other meats or veggies like asparagus.

[Barracuda]

Oh, and one other tip. Salt and pepper, in limited amounts, are your friends. Start off small and taste as you go--you can always add more, but it's hard to take it back out. And if you like a lower sodium diet but like flavors, use herbs. Just buy a few of the basics--dill, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and so on, and experiment. Remember--they smell how they taste. If you still aren't sure, spoon up a bit of what you're cooking, sprinkle a small amount on, and taste before seasoning the entire dish.

[MoonCat]

Jester, that sounds good. Similar to a dish my sister makes with kielbasa, onions and sliced potatoes.

Here's one: Lazy Pierogi (aka Poor Man's Pierogi)

Cook a batch of macaroni, enough for the number of people you're feeding. We like to use spiral noodles but any noodles or macaroni will do. While it's cooking, brown chopped onions and sliced mushrooms in a frying pan, and cook a half pound or so of bacon until it's done the way you like it. Drain the noodles, toss in the onions and mushrooms, break up the bacon slices and toss them in too. Take a can of sauerkraut, drain the liquid and rinse the sauerkraut if you don't like it too sour. Mix that in with the noodles, onions, bacon and mushrooms. Add about a cup of shredded mozzarella (more if you like it really cheesy) and heat on low flame, stirring occasionally, until the cheese is all melty.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Stir fries are super easy too.

Heat (on high) a little olive or vege oil in a non-stick pan (preferably a wok if you have one). Add in whatever diced meat you want - chicken, fish, prawns, beef, pork, whatever. Keep it moving until it's cooked.

Add in diced or strip fresh veges. Carrots, mushroom, onion, capsicum, broccoli, zucchini, whatever you have and like. Keep stirring until the veges are tender but not overcooked.

Remove from heat and add a little oyster sauce.

You can add garlic or chili with the meat if you want. Or substitute a different sauce, eg soy, fish sauce, sweet chili.

Serve on its own or over steamed rice.

Another quick'n'easy is a mild chicken curry.

Brown diced chicken with some onions in a little oil. Stir in curry powder to taste (about a teaspoon if you like mild, up to a dessertspoon if you want spicier). Add a can of cream of pumpkin soup and a can of coconut milk or cream, stir in thoroughly. Bring to a slow simmer for 20 minutes. Add in fresh green beans (cut off the ends, leave them whole) and red capsicum cut in strips, simmer for another couple of minutes till the veges are tender, then serve over rice.

Since I seem to be on the Asian fusion recipes... Thai chicken and corn soup

Brown 500g chicken mince in a little oil with diced spring onions. Cut bacon into long strips, fry till crispy, add to the chicken. Add a can of creamed corn and a litre of chicken stock, simmer for 10 minutes or till chicken is cooked. Add a half-cup of sweet chili sauce and about 2 dessertspoons of crushed coriander (in the vege section of the supermarket, in tubes) and stir in before serving.

These are all simple and tasty. I tend to keep a variety of tinned and frozen stuff on hand for 'oh dear Dog, what am I going to cook tonight??' moments. They come in handy when I don't want to do 'from scratch' stuff.

Tomato soup or tinned diced tomatoes can work as a base for spaghetti bolognese sause.
Cream of mushroom works for stroganoff, or chicken and mushroom pasta.
I make 'lazy pumpkin scones' with cream of pumpkin soup.
Philly cream cheese can be melted into dishes to make a creamy sauce. It can also cool down an over-spicy curry or chili.
Eggs. I cook so many different things with eggs - omelette, scrambled, quiche, frittata, bacon and egg pie... all are easy, tasty, quick.

Just experiment, adapt recipes etc to your own tastes. Most of all, have fun and enjoy!