Step back and let me get my cook on

Isn't it spelled "Hasbruck" Heights? Sorry. My fiance was sort of clueless about cooking when we first started dating, too. There are a couple basic techniques that are more important than knowing what flavors taste good with each other, and some basic things you should always keep in your kitchen.

Pantry: a good, extra virgin olive oil (spend the $8, it's worth it), vegetable oil, garlic, canned tomatoes, canned veggies, onions, potatoes, eggs, butter, milk, flour, lots of pasta, white wine (get the cheap $8/gal bottle at your liquor store and forget about it. I use wine in everything), rice, a complete spice rack (oregano, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, etc.), chicken stock (could be canned, but points if you learn to make it yourself), breadcrumbs and a good set of knives.

The easiest dinners are sauteed chicken. Remember that since chicken is so bland by itself, you need to put spice on it. If you want a direct flavor and a little less fat, after you've cleaned and trimmed the chicken (I buy like 5 lbs at one time, clean each piece and freeze them separately wrapped in foil, that way when I know I'm going to have it the next day, I just need to take out a single piece the night before and not worry about cleaning it) put the spice directly on it with a little salt and pepper (on both sides. It also helps if you pat the spice onto the chicken). You may think you won't taste the salt, but you definitely will. Heat a pan with either Pam spray or olive oil (the oil will splatter, but it cooks the chicken better). A note: My fiance felt that if he put the heat all the way up, the oil would get hot faster and then he could turn it back down. This is not how physics works. Whatever temperature you want the oil to remain is what you should set it to first. You can't go wrong with a medium heat. Also, you only need enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan; you're not deep frying. Let the chicken brown on this lower heat so it's cooked through halfway then flip it.

Once you're comfortable not burning that, you can start to make sauces easily. Combine a little flour with your favorite spice (Oregano is the easiest) and coat the chicken with that mixture. Heat oil and a little butter in a pan and fry the same was as before. You'll notice the chicken has a wonderful coating. Now you can add a little lemon and white wine, a can of diced tomatoes, marsala wine, anything you think will make a good sauce. NOT BBQ sauce, any kind of juice or marinade. Seasoning your flour and then letting the chicken simmer in the sauce you make is what will give the chicken that melt-on-your-tongue taste. You can leave the chicken in there until it's falling apart - it'll taste the most tender.

Pasta is really simple, too. Be sure to put salt in your water before it starts to boil and add a little vegetable oil if it starts to boil over. For a simple pasta sauce, melt butter and minced garlic over low heat, add some white wine and I like to throw in sun dried tomatoes. Turn up the heat to make it boil, then lower the heat to let it simmer for about five minutes. It's the easiest sauce, straight from the pantry and still very good. Top with a little parmesean. It's always the meal I make when I'm running late for the meeting.

Also, keeping a lot of rice on hand makes it easy to make a filling meal. You can put any kind of chicken over rice - with the basic sauces you just learned to make. This will make it healthier and more balanced, especially if you can get used to brown rice.

Finally, when in doubt, turn the heat down. Once you've burned butter or garlic, you've ruined the taste of your whole dish. You won't cook a thick piece of chicken any faster if the heat is higher. You'll burn the outside and leave the inside pink. Also, when you check to see if chicken is cooked through, always make a cut at the thickest point. Nobody wants salmonila.

Sorry this is such a narration. I've always wanted to host one of those lame cooking shows or even open a restaurant. There's easy recipes at www.foodtv.com. I like to find ones that I think sound good and get the ingredients that I can keep in my house, that way if I'm ever in the mood for something different, I don't have to run to the market.

You'll get the hang of it. My brother's roommate once tried to cook pasta in the microwave. Don't do stupid crap like that.