At first stick to recipies that only have a few ingredients and relatively easy preparation. When I first started out I would just make pasta with sauce from a jar and a veggie side. I still make this on nights when I'm tired or in a hurry. Keep your cupboards stoccked with items you will use a lot, like for me it's whole grain pastas, brown rice, chicken and veggie broth, lean ground turkey, fat free evaporated milk and our favorite pasta sauces, just to name a few. I buy certain items and divide them into the portions I will cook with then freeze them. Also there are many kid friendly everyday cooking projects your kids can help with. My son, 8, enjoys peeling carrots into our salad bowl while my daughter, 4, tears the lettuce. My son can use a butter knife to slice through boiled eggs, and my daughter adds the chick peas. We end up with a healthy side that they made themselves. When I make oatmeal, I set out individual dishes with additives like nuts, cranberries, peaches, brown sugar, even syrup  ( I buy the sugar free kind)and let the kids add them in. I make a lot of one dish meals in the oven and they help by adding frozen veggies to the pan or arranging the veggies that I have sliced up. Putting milk or juice in a small pitcher and letting your child fill the glasses around the table makes them feel very important. So does letting them spoon cold or warm side items onto the family's plates. Let them butter toast, or add granola to yogurt. These thing take a few extra minutes but eventually they will master some really useful skills, my son now gets both himself and his sister cereal in the morning, and can pour the milk too unless it's really full.He's also very proud of his skills as a sandwich artist.  Remember to expect some messes, just try not to make a big deal about them, kids love to help clean up too.