Learning how to cook, need help

Okay, seriously... I don't know how to cook. I grew up spoiled by my mother who would make breakfast & dinner every day, and lunch when applicable. We just had to make our own lunches to take to school with us, and that was it. She never really required us to help her much in the kitchen, so I learned how to eat well (and healthy foods I often did not like) while living there. Ever since I moved out, I haven't eaten well. One reason could be because I haven't felt like I had the time to invest into those types of meals (or the desire to spend what time I did have into preparing meals). And another reason could be because I didn't feel like I had the ability to.

So, maybe one of these days I'll actually learn how to "really" cook. In the meantime, I have a few things that I make that aren't too difficult. Some are healthier than others (I really like making whole-grain or otherwise healthy pasta with chicken or turkey meatballs and marinara sauce), but they all are delicious.

Trying to add even more whole grains to my diet, I recently bought a cookbook through Amazon.com. So far I have only tried out one recipe. I should've read through it and really prepared right before I got started, because between the time I read the recipe originally, went grocery shopping for the ingredients I didn't have, and actually made the meal, I forgot a lot of what I read. So there was some scrambling, but it turned out pretty yummy. It was a Spanish Rice Bake recipe, and it could be served as a main course or a side dish. Joe wanted to eat out, so we went to Taco Bell, where I got some choices I think (but don't really know) would be healthier and got them "fresco style." We ate the rice as a side dish. I think I may add chicken the next time I try it to make it more suitable for a main dish. It was pretty yummy, and we still have leftovers in the fridge.

I also grabbed a simple recipe I'd cut out of one of my old magazines for a dessert. It was for an "Autumn Dessert" (apple slices with some nutmeg, cinnamon, almond slices, and granola on top of them, basically). It was supposed to be topped with frozen yogurt, but I didn't have any, so I served it without that. It was yummy anyway.

Last night for our enrichment, we had taco salads. I have never made this and frankly don't like salads, so I've rarely eaten this (the last time was while living with my mother, I think). But since I was in charge of getting the food ready, I looked up what sorts of things I should buy and tried to prepare enough for roughly 35 people. The kitchen looked like a mess by the time Joe & I were through (he helped me by shredding lettuce in our food processor and then going to the grocery store and buying more when I realized I didn't buy enough), but things turned out fairly well. We ran out of tomatoes, and the sour cream was barely enough (some women probably would've eaten more if we had it).

I am finally starting to feel a little bit excited about cooking. I don't know where this enthusiasm has come from or how long it might last, but I'm going to take advantage of it while I have it. I want to cook healthier meals and save money from going out to eat (although Joe really likes to do that- so we do it about once every week or so).

And since I'm new at this, I could use some help. What sort of cooking tips do you have that you could share with me?