The Very Basics

I'm working on a project with several women who are intelligent, great-looking, hold down excellent jobs...and they eat everything out of either a microwave or off a menu. "Can you cook?" one of them asked me last night, when we were working late and calling the thai place, again. "I just can't get into it. I can't make anything and I just end up eating all the M&Ms at work."

Help me save these women from themselves. Not everyone has to be a foodie, or a gourmet. I don't qualify for either of those categories, but I can make something good and satisfying if I feel like it. Because of basic kitchen competency, I can eat better, healthier, and cheaper.

So, what are the five or ten things everyone should know how to make? The 101 of food?

Here are some of my picks:

1) Scrambled eggs or, as we called them as kids "Scrambies."
2) Roast chicken
3) Cold appetizer platter (yes, you can cheat and use deli stuff here.)
4) Soup that can last a week
5) Grilled fish
6) Rice & Beans
7) Inventive salads
8) A cheese plate
9) Crock Pot standby
10) Oven-roasted vegetables

What do you think?