Reddit mentions of How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food

There are lots of qualified people posting, so I'll just chip in my 2c.

When you go grocery shopping, stick to the outside of the store. Butcher, deli, produce, milk, eggs, bakery, etc. The stuff on this inside is all expensive and all much less healthy for you. If you have something specific you want, go and get it, but don't wander the aisles - and certainly don't do so on an empty stomach.

There's 1c, and here's my other: it sounds like what was wrong with your sandwich was a lack of flavour. French bread, deli turkey, provolone cheese, and spinach are all good things, but you didn't have any sort of sauces on there. Toss a little mayo and mustard into a bowl, mince some garlic (get a garlic press, by the way - there's an extra 1c, free of charge!) and throw that in, too, and mix it all up, and spread it on the bread before you grill it.

Oh, what the heck; I guess I'm feeling generous now that you've got me started. This book (or in paperback) has been very, very helpful to me. The subtitle should catch your attention: "simple recipes for great food". That's exactly what it is. Further, he includes details on how to choose good ingredients, different ways of preparing food, and many, many recipes, often with several interesting variations. From one of his recipes for pork chops, I could eat a different meal each night of the week. This book will do a lot to teach you how to cook, if you let it. You should definitely make a trip to Chapters and look for it. I firmly believe that if anybody has room or time for only one cookbook on their shelf, and they're a new cook, this is the book for them.

So I guess you ended up with 4c, after all. What a deal! Best of luck, and I hope you fall in love with cooking. There's no food better than good food you prepare for yourself. =)

edit: Oh yeah; I somehow completely forgot to chip in this last 1c: don't worry about choosing "the right bread", or "the right sandwich meat". Part of being new to all of this is finding that out for yourself. Every time I go grocery shopping, I try to find a new kind of bread to buy. Right now I'm on pumpernickel (a 675 g loaf is less than $3 (Canadian), on par with all the others) and it makes DYNAMITE tuna sandwiches. Just experiment, and learn what you like by experimentation. Don't let other people ever tell you something is "bad" because they didn't enjoy it. (If they have objective reasons, like, "the back and ribs cut of chicken is almost entirely bone, and hard to eat", then you might want to pay attention.) Tastes vary wildly and you owe it to yourself to try everything once. You never know what you might love! =)

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

You have made the most important step, which is doing research by asking here (or any similar place). The best way to learn to cook as an adult with minimal prior skills is to match up a good general cookbook with a plan to practice cooking skills and a web/YouTube addiction. My current recommendation is Bittman's How to Cook Everything. He has been splitting off iterations for marketing, but the big red brick is my favorite to share.

I think that anyone looking to delve into the "why" of Bittman will benefit from bookmarking Serious Eats to read through from time to time and to search as a reference, The basic YouTube balance is Chef John's Food Wishes; he covers an amazing range of dishes, with varying results and good insight as to where things went wonky. Because he is also process driven - and fun - I learn a lot from him when I am thinking about a new dish.

If chicken is a problem, temporarily switch to thighs. They are more flavorful, but really hard to dry out. Refine your first attempts there.

Impress yourself! Because you are worth it, and you deserve a nice dinner. Make a very simple roast chicken; much easier than you'd expect. You can often find a chicken (at least where I am) for about a dollar a pound, and you'll get a few dinners out of it. Can save the bones to make soup or stock if you like, but for now...

I am a fan of two recipes, but there are 10,000 variations. Neither of these call for butter or oil, or anything exotic. So, it's basically just you and the bird. Roasting pan or cast iron, some way to raise the bird up (roasting rack, or one of those silicon trivets will do it, too), salt, pepper are the themes between both. The second recipe is slightly fancier and also calls for a lemon and some rosemary. You can use dried rosemary.

1. Thomas Keller's roast chicken. Roasting pan, roasting rack, salt, pepper, bird, oven at 450. You can tie up the bird, but I never do. You can take some of the extra steps (fooling with the wishbone), but I never do that either. Takes an 45-90 min depending on the size of the bird. Make a salad or some mashed potatoes (flakes don't suck -- throw in a little garlic if you got it) to go with it.
   
   ---this recipe is simply badass in its simplicity and its ease. Literally bird + salt + pepper + heat.
   
   
2. The Toby Ziegler (from the West Wing) method:
   bird, lemon, salt, rosemary, black pepper, a lemon.
   
   ---Zest the lemon if you have a zester. If you find yourself with a spare $10ish lying around, get a microplane. If you don't, don't worry about it. Cut the (maybe naked) lemon in half. Squeeze some of the lemon juice onto the bird. Get the zest onto the bird if you have it. Rub with some salt. Throw some rosemary on there. Get some rosemary and salt inside the bird, and put the lemon halves inside, starting breast side down. Put on roasting rack, 350 for... whatever the package recommends based on weight. I would hit the bird with some black pepper. Maybe throw a little garlic inside the bird. Not critical.
   
   ---I also tend to put in about 2 cups of liquid into the roasting pan -- usually 2 or 3 to one water to white wine, but if you don't have white wine (I buy cheap white and cheap rose for cooking) it's fine. I tend to flip the bird (haaaaaaaaa) after an hour or so. This is a much slower method.
   
   
3. throw together a simple salad to go with it. Some romaine, some tomato, a cucumber, some balsamic. If you have some fresh herbs around (maybe some basil) throw it right in there with the lettuce. A little feta or parm if you have it.
   
   
4. cranberry sauce is not a bad thing. I've got a recipe I like if you want to do that, but I am happy to buy the Ocean Spray stuff in the can because it tastes good. I don't always get it. It's not exactly health food, though.
   
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   Other thoughts:
   
   
   
5. How to be poor and buy spices anyway: in the US (I'm in the Boston area), there are a good number of discount spice brands. I do not just mean the value brand at the grocery store (as often times those are teeeeerrible). If you have Badilla as a brand (check the Latin foods aisle), this is pretty spectacular, and cheap. Option 2 is find yourself an ethnic grocery store and buy Sadaf or one of those brands; e.g, I have a European grocery store near me (who also sell crazy cheap produce -- trying to help you stretch your budget), and got a large jar of taco seasoning for $2.50. This is versatile, and I've got some evil plans for it. But I mean, it's a brand I've never seen before (Castella), and 10 oz of the stuff. One of those places will probably have bullion cubes/powder, vinegars, and oils pretty cheap, too; I get sunflower oil for like $1.80/liter, which is awesome (if you like sunflower oil, but it's pretty versatile). I literally cut my produce bill in half starting to shop at a little Euro grocery, and my friends who live near this big Latin/African grocery have had similar benefits.
   
   --the bigger grocery stores sell like bulk tins of black pepper. These are often only a couple of dollars, and many times are the cheapest way to get it. If it gets a little weak, use a little more.
   
   
6. I really love Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. There is a new and updated edition that (used) runs about $10 shipped, but the classic big yellow book is about $5 shipped from Amazon. Idea fuel really, and it is how to cook frickin' everything.
   
   
7. learn to appreciate dried beans and their many uses. Cook the hell out of them so they get a good texture. I generally stick to chick peas, navy beans, and some other white beans. Buy the cheapest bags of them you can. These should never be an expensive item.
   
   
8. Do you have a slow cooker? Before you worry I'm saying "go throw $25 out the window," this is a solid yardsale/church rummage sale type of find. And people let them go for $5. A lot. See if you can get a 5-6 qt one. These are a common size. Slow cookers are awesome.
   
   
9. make your own salad dressings. This is kind of fun. A 16 oz glass jar is a great size. I splurged on a couple of those salad dressing jars that have recipes and fill lines on the sides, but the writing comes off. They were about $2 each, though, with screw top lids. But improvise. This is where the cheap spices, oils, and vinegars from the ethnic groceries come in :)
   
   
10. once in a while, have dessert in whatever fashion that looks like for you. Go for a walk after if you want, but as I tell my diabetic mother, "a little handful of french fries is not going to kill you, and neither is the occasional piece of cake." Her sugar is very well-controlled, but the point is don't be an asshole to yourself.
    
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    I hope this helps. PM if you like. I know depression and anxiety all too well, and not wanting to cook is common with that -- and just makes you feel worse.

The recipe originally came from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Which is a fairly decent book for basic recipes. It's not quite the same anymore, but not too different either.

The recipe is not that difficult. It takes about 1/2 hour to get the cake in the oven, and dirties 3 bowls. It's a lot easier if you have a stand mixer (which I don't)

And like I said before, I spent a number of years perfecting the base recipe (I took a cheesecake to the neighbor's every week for a year), which I wouldn't have done if I thought it sucked. This cheesecake comes out as the best I've had. It's probably not the best out there though.

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. This is the book I used to learn how to cook things more complicated than pancakes. Also, old episodes of Good Eats are good for learning how and why things work the way they do. Alton Brown is an excellent teacher.

I purchased this book right after I first got married in 1999. I still use it. Often. This is a staple and I would recommend as a wedding gift for those out on their own for the first time. https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Simple-Recipes/dp/0471789186?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

get a used copy of:

How to Cook Everything

there's an iPhone app of it that's essential the same thing

This is the book that I'd recommend to anyone looking to learn how to cook. I was pretty decent at cooking before I got this book and it took me from average to way above average. Like assistant manager of a restaurant at 20 good.

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DROWGIRL!

How to cook Everything by Mark Bittman is the very best cookbook I've come across so far. It actually explains what is going on and gives a ton of recipes that are really useful. I even make my own crackers now thanks to this book!

I have a number of cookbooks (99% of which were hand-me-downs from random family members) that I don't really use because I prefer the internet, but the two physical books I've gotten the most use out of are these:

How to Cook Everything
-Especially if you're just starting out this book is excellent. It doesn't list tons of complicated recipes sprinkled with cooking jargon. It holds your hand through the simplest versions of many, many recipes and then tells you why you're doing what youer' doing.

The Flavor Bible
-Because while it's better to have experience to be able to just know which flavors work well together, this is just easier. The book has some explanatory stuff in the front, but most of the book is basically a huge index of different ingredients and all of the other things that go well with them. Especially if you're a broke student, spices are going to be the big thing that keeps you from eating bland-ass ramen all of the time (though this book doesn't just cover spices).

How to Cook Everything

I didn't know anything two months ago. Now I cook for my family on a regular basis, and well.

How to Cook Everything

Added to my wishlist! Here's an Amazon link to the book.

Yes and I sneak in some cooked ham bits into it sometimes. Wild mushrooms not always but I make steamed asparagus with balsamic vinegar to compliment. My cooking is limited but this I have perfected to an art. I just never have anyone to share my food stuff with. This book has helped me improve my food game.

Also, I want to recommend this cookbook to you if you want to truly start learning how to cook. There are great, basic recipes and some a little more advanced, but all thoroughly explained and easily translatable to a novice cook. And there is a wealth of information when it comes to proper knives, cooking tools, pots and pans, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Simple-Recipes/dp/0471789186/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410449408&sr=1-3&keywords=how+to+cook+everything

How to Cook Everything