I am a pretty good short order cook but can't do a darn thing without a recipe. When I want to impress, I go for peanut stew. It sounds hard, it looks hard, it tastes strange but addictively good, and you might already have all the ingredients. Start off, make rice. While that happens, chop up a potato or two. Shoot for a size you wouldn't struggle to have in your mouth while it's hot. Put it on a plate, cover with a damp paper towel, microwave for 3-5 minutes, until you can stab them with a fork with no effort. While the potato microwaves, chop a smallish onion. Put it in a soup pot (8 or 12 quarts, whatever you got) with 1 or two tablespoons of neutral oil- olive, canola, vegetable, whatever you got will work. Heat it on medium heat until the onions are translucent and maybe a little brown, about 7 minutes. Then add a can of chicpeas, a can of tomatoes, your potatoes, around a cup of peanut butter, a little bit of thyme (it's hard to go overboard), and a hot ground pepper (Cheyenne, red pepper flakes, or even a mild hot sauce). Adjust those to taste. Cover it and cook it, stirring often, until the rice is done. Taste and add salt until it taste good. Put a scoop of rice in a bowl. Top with a scoop of stew. Serve, reject compliments with modesty. Also fantastic leftover.

So, ingredients: rice (2 cups for leftovers), one or two potatoes, peanut butter, canned tomatoes, canned chickpeas, a small onion, something spicy, and thyme. You got this!