Keep it simple, enjoy the foods and experiment. Years ago, I used to cook from packets and I used to spend hours in the kitchen! Things have changed in a dramatic way for me. Most of the food I make takes no more than 30 minutes to make, often much less. It did not happen overnight for me, you have to work at it. Remember it is about the foods you like. Then it becomes so much easier. My method of cooking is haphazard at best. I don’t know what I’m going to make until I go into the kitchen and see what there is. Then I make it up as I cook.
There are some methods of making the food I use, for which I may not use the correct terms or have my own interpretation of them and these are:
Steaming—cook the vegetable in a little water in a pan on a high heat. This allows the water to heat up to a high temperature very quickly and cook the vegetable rapidly. Things like broccoli, sweet potatoes, cabbage, sprouting broccoli work well with steaming.
Sauté—cook in a little oil over a gentle heat. Onions, leeks, garlic, ginger are ideal for this—normally at the beginning and then you can add other ingredients.
Boil—cover the ingredient in water and cook. Pasta, noodles, rice, beans, lentils are ideal for boiling.
Wilt—this is when I add an ingredient at the end to cook for a very short time. This works well for leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and chard.
Some of the ideas that I write about use the same ingredients over and over. If you don’t have these ingredients or don’t like them—use an alternative. For example I like using apple cider vinegar but you could use lemon juice instead. I’ll keep repeating this—experiment!