If anyone's a keen foodie - please take pity on me and help me rediscover cooking and expanding toddlers tastebuds.

[pipkin35]

I used to cook and enjoy it. Don't really know what happened, except a 16 month age gap between 2 DCs and me needing to lose 3 stone - anyhoo, I stopped.

We're moving soon and the kitchen is more like the one I've always wanted (room to swing a small cat). I want to rediscover my love of cooking.
I know you'll all shout 'Just do it then!' but I don't know where to start, it's been well over a year!

This is what we have eaten over a week as an example:

Shop bought Dr. Oetkers Pizza
Birds Eye Baked to Perfection fish and chicken (these aren't quite ready meals but are fish and chicken breast foil packed. At 3.99 each for 2, I'm finding it hard to justify buying my own fish and chicken since theirs taste so yummy...)
Uncle Ben's savoury rice
Salad with (bought) falafel.
I'll feed DH ready meals (Sainsbury's) while I'll have a bowl of cereal or a tin of mackerel/pulses on salad (trying to keep that 3 stone off)...

My kids are eating the same food (limited with me but not at nursery?!) and I'm serving the same meals when we're together. I actually can't see a way out or things changing - especially regarding the kids and at 3 and 2 I'd like to instill good values around mealtimes - not the opposite which is what I fear is starting to happen.

I'd like some menu/meal ideas from people that loved to cook. I bake alot but cooking evening meals/family food has gone out the window.

Any ideas and or simple recipe books - and I mean simple not JO or NL?

if i was you id start off simple, baked potatoes with a multitude of filling options, egg fried rice with some sweetcorn and diced chicken, easy simple pasta dishes pasta mixed with garlic and herb philly or make a simple tomato sauce great way to get some hiden veg in and if you add a couple of triangles of laughing cow or the likes its a great low cal way to make a lovely creamy sauce. I make up a big batch of this sauce and use it to make lots of diff dishes eg one day with pasta, then mixed with mince and kidney beans and i add a tsp chilli powder for dh and i serve with rice, or mixed with mince then in toco shells or wraps with some chedder and a dollop of sour cream and chive, i also use it as bolonese, lasagne and shepards pie! I love being able to get so many different dishes out of the same sime basic dish. I also do lots stews and nout handier then a roast chicken roast potatoes and roast veg. Any of this any good?