We were inspired recently to see chef Jamie Oliver win a prize for his work promoting the end of obesity.

Oliver's prescription is fairly simple: get people cooking again. His presentation in accepting the TED prize last month included some pretty shocking video of children mistaking a beet for an onion, an eggplant for a pear, who had no guess at all when confronted with a potato.

Oliver also takes a shot at serving chocolate milk to kids, a subject of controversy on this blog a few months ago.

What captured my imagination was Oliver's idea of 10 recipes to save your life. It's about starting simply -- from basic, fresh ingredients -- and getting back to work in the kitchen again. If you make food yourself you know what's in it, and freshly prepared food is healthier than processed foods.

Like most food writing, Food Bytes generally preaches to the converted. Browsing through the endless supply of foodie talk on the internet, it's not easy to find a place to get a start in the kitchen. This blog entry is something a little different. This one is for people who have no idea what to do in the kitchen, outside of storing beer and leftover pizza in the fridge.

A few of us have dug through our repertoires for some simple, tasty recipes to get started. Below that is some even more basic stuff. Try one. We think you'll be surprised at how easy it is. You might also find that cooking can be its own reward.

And if you have a simple recipe to add here, please join in.

Jessica Wong

SALMON WITH MAPLE-SOY SAUCE
(serves 4)

4 filets of salmon (four to six ounces each, one inch thick)
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup maple syrup

Sprinkle a little bit of salt (only a little, the soy sauce you add later is also salty) and pepper on filets of salmon with the skin still on. Turn oven to bake at 400 F. Place the fish, skin side down, on an oven-proof pan. Cook for 10 minutes.

To check if it's done, take a fork and flake away the fish at the thickest part. If it looks dry all the way through, it's done. If it isn't, put it back in the oven for another five minutes.

Start making the sauce when you turn the oven on: In a small saucepan combine soy sauce (light or regular) and maple syrup. Turn heat to medium-low. Stir this fairly regularly so the sugar in the syrup doesn't burn. You want this steaming, but not boiling. Cook until it starts to get thicker.

Serve soy-maple sauce over salmon portions.

See below for some side dishes.

BROCCOLI SOUP

1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 large potatoes
1 bunch broccoli
1 tbsp vegetable oil or butter
1 tsp dried thyme
water or vegetable broth or chicken broth

Roughly chop onion and mince garlic.

Trim stem ends off broccoli. With a small knife, peel the hard skin off the outer stem. Chop the whole business into half-inch pieces (all will be blended later, so don't worry about the exact size). Peel and chop two large potatoes into inch-sized chunks.

Put butter or vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, drop in the onions and garlic. To test the oil, drop in a small piece of onion. If it sizzles, it's ready.

Stir this around for a few minutes, then dump in broccoli and potato chunks. Add thyme and stir well for a few more minutes.

Add enough water or stock (or a mix of both) to just cover the vegetables. Cover with lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Test by piercing a piece of veggie with a knife: if it slides in easily, it's done.

Puree the soup. You can do this with an immersion blender, a food processor or in a regular blender. Be careful not to overload food processor or blender. Do a little bit at a time.

Return to pot to reheat.

Serve with crackers, toast or -- my favourite -- grilled cheese sandwiches (see below).

Amber Hildebrandt

NUTMEG PORK CHOPS

Pork chops (1 per person)
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Sprinkle pork chops on both sides with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Put 2 tsp of butter per chop in frying pan and turn to medium high. When butter is good and hot, drop in the pork chops. Remove chops when done. Cook the butter until it goes a little brown. Drizzle butter on mashed potatoes. This goes well with green beans.
 

CUCUMBER-TOMATO-BEEF STIR FRY

1/2 lb ground beef
1 clove garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tbsp mirin or cooking sake (available at Asian markets) or water

Brown ground beef in pan with the garlic and ginger. When it is almost all brown, drop in the chopped tomato and cucumber. Cook for a few minutes more until all the beef is browned. Sprinkle with Chinese five-spice. Add a mirin or sake (or water if you don't have these), sugar and soy sauce. Cook for a few minutes more and serve with rice (recipe follows).

Kevin Yarr

LENTIL SOUP
If you like tomato soup you'll like this, but it makes more of a meal.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
1 small potato
3 large carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 28-oz can low-sodium tomatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups red lentils
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vinegar

Dice onion. Peel and dice potato. Peel and slice carrots. Mince garlic.

Turn burner to medium and put oil in a large pot. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes, then throw in the potato, carrots and garlic. Sauté a few minutes more.

Add tomatoes, broth and lentils. Simmer for about an hour until lentils are soft. Stir regularly, as lentils will tend to stick to the bottom. Add a little water if it starts to look too thick to be soup.

Add sugar and vinegar and simmer about five minutes more.

This is fine on its own, and extra good with a little shredded cheese on top.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

½ cup butter, at room temperature (so it's soft enough to blend)
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F. Stir together both flours and baking soda. When this is well mixed add the cinnamon, and mix until well combined. Mix in blueberries.

In a separate bowl, blend together butter and white sugar, then add egg. Beat that in as well. Add and mix in the dry ingredients and buttermilk. Do not overmix; batter should be just moist throughout.

Line 12-muffin tin with large paper muffin cups. Spoon batter in equal portions into the cups, about 2/3 full. If you avoid dripping batter outside the cups this will make cleanup a lot easier.

Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

 
RICE

2 parts water
1 part rice

Put water and rice into pot. Turn heat to high and bring to boil. Turn down heat to medium-low so that water moves to a slow boil. When the water is all gone the rice is done.

1 cup of rice makes four large servings.

MASHED POTATOES

Peel potatoes (allow about one medium potato per person) and cut into large pieces of about equal size. If you are in a hurry they can be cut quite small to cook more quickly. Cooking time will depend on the size of the pieces. Pieces the size of a billiard ball will take about 30 minutes.

Put potatoes into a pot with about five centimetres of water. Turn burner to high until water it starts to boil, then turn down to medium-low so that water boils slowly. The potatoes are done when a fork penetrates them easily.

When the potatoes are done, drain water, then mash together with a little butter and milk or yogurt.

BAKED POTATO

Preheat oven to 400 F. Wash potato with the skin still on and cut off any scars. Dry. Rub a thin layer of butter on the potato and place directly on oven rack. Cooking time will vary with size of potato. Start checking after 45 minutes; potatoes are ready when they can be easily pierced with a knife.

To serve, cut potato down middle of the top. Squeeze each side so the potato squishes out the opening (careful, it's hot).

Drop a dollop of sour cream on top

or

Sprinkle with shredded cheese

or

Sprinkle with a mix of cooked broccoli and shredded cheese.

GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH

Slice cheese (try cheddar, havarti or jack) and lay slices in a single layer to cover a piece of bread. Cover with another slice of bread and butter the outside. (Mayonnaise works too if your butter isn't soft enough.) Turn heat to medium under a frying pan. Lay sandwich in the pan, butter side down. Butter the top piece of bread on the outside.

When the sandwich is toasted on the first side, flip it over until the other side is done. Covering the pan with a lid will help to melt the cheese inside.