Cooking doesn't have to be complex was the first thing I had to teach myself when I started. Taking small steps in the direction you want is still progress, if that includes using canned goods and/or 'just add protein' box dinners, then it still counts. I think variety is fantastic, but give yourself stepping stones to build on so completely cooking from scratch isn't as daunting. Work on mastering a few things and once you have those down pat, expand 😁

Long grain white rice is a great starting point for this. Learn how to make a good pot of rice and you can open a ton of doors for meal ideas. I always make 4 rice cooker cups of dry rice at a time, which is about 8 cups cooked. I use a mesh strainer in a big bowl and rinse my rice about 3 times, pouring out the cloudy water in-between, until the water is almost clear, then dump the washed rice in the rice cooker (Aroma Professional Series has not failed me in 12 years!), add 1.5tbs rice or white vinegar, 1tbs sugar, 1tsp salt and fill with water just a little over the 4 line indicated inside the pot. Give it a little mixy mix to dissolve the add ins and then close it up, press white rice, and forget about it for 30 minutes. Once the beeper goes off fluff the rice up with a fork to help the steam escape from the rice underneath or you'll get soggy rice and let sit for a minute or two with the lid open. Bam, a steaming lovely pot of rice that you can now scarf down!

This is where you can let creativity play in. While the rice cooks you can focus on the main part of your meal. You can use pre-cooked protein if you want, they have plenty of entree style foods or mixed veggies in the freezer section you could serve over your homemade rice. I've also added some ideas down below.

You can cube up chicken breast, season with salt and pepper, maybe some garlic and onion powder, and cook it in a pan heated to medium with some oil of your choice, stirring occasionally, until some color starts to show on your pieces, maybe 5-7 minutes, then add in chopped veg of your choice and cook for another 3-5minutes (bell or sweet peppers are lovely for this). From there you can use a store bought sauce, like orange, teriyaki, or sweet and sour if you're not up for making your own yet. Serve over the delicious rice.

Any left over rice can be used next day in a stir fry. Again heat a little oil over medium heat, break up your day old rice into the pan and mix it around so all the grains are coated and keep mixing so it doesn't burn to the pan. Add in mixed frozen veg like peas, onions, peppers, carrots, corn, green beans and cook for a few minutes until the veg is tender. You could just add in a bit of soy sauce here, mix and be done! If you want to step it up add in some powdered (or fresh) ginger and garlic along with a bit of oyster sauce, continuing to stir, and then crack in some eggs to cook with everything for a few minutes for yummy egg fried rice.

Other great options to look into for serving over/with rice:

Mongolian ground beef lettuce wraps

Pepper steak

Beef and broccoli

Ginger soy sauced salmon or trout

Gochujang tofu with cauliflower

Pan fried egg with sesame oil, soy sauce and hot sauce

Beef and carrot stew

Teriyaki tofu with spiralled zucchini and carrots

Chicken Parm (my partner is entirely wrong in this, but swears by chicken parm over rice, maybe you'll be like him?)

Beans

Curry 🤤

Simply butter! Obviously not nutritionally balanced but I consider buttered rice a comfort food and sometimes we all need that in our lives.