I LOVE to cook, and am told I'm good at it! I learned the basics from my aunt, and in Home Ec. I furthered my education just by..... Like, when I went to a church dinner, or someone's house, I would take note of what I was eating; then, I go-home and make it----that's how I got my chicken casserole, and Meat and Potato Pie "recipes" (they're not actually recipes, cuz I just winged-it), and people were always asking me for my chicken casserole.
One thing that I learned about cooking, is that you don't really need a recipe----you can just throw stuff together, that you like; also, don't be afraid to use something already made, and put it together with something else (like, I put chicken breasts in the crockpot with Pace Picante Sauce----it's BEYOND fabulous, and people will think you made a WONDERFUL meal [just don't let 'em look in your garbage! LOL]).
Another easy thing is Pudding Pie----get a Ready-Made crust, and 2 packages of Quick-set pudding, that you like; all you have to do is add the amount of milk that it says, on the package, stir for, like, 2 minutes (whatever it says on the package), then dump it in the crust, put the lid on (comes inverted in the crust, when you buy it), then throw it (not literally) in the fridge----people will think you're BRILLIANT!! I got real adventurous, after I learned that trick, and now I make a Peppermint Patty Pie, that everybody wants, every Christmas. Same steps as above----2 packages of vanilla pudding, some green food coloring, a splash of good, REAL peppermint extract, and a chocolate crust----FABULOUS!! I've even put semi-sweet chocolate drops, in there!! I've also made it with ONE package of chocolate fudge pudding, and ONE package of vanilla (follow the directions above, for the vanilla part), let them set a little, then swirled them together, for a "marble" pie. There's so many different kinds of pudding, you could, almost, never run-out of ideas!! Another one I do, is banana "cream" pie----banana pudding with slices of bananas, in a graham cracker crust----FABULOUS!!
I'm thinking if you start-out with these "cheats", you'll get some confidence, and try MORE stuff!!
I've never been / WANTED to be a baker----and finally, I figured-out WHY..... It's because it's too precise, for me----there's no "just throw stuff together", in baking, IMO (unless you REALLY know what you're doing), you have to actually follow a recipe, and that's VERY difficult for me. I decided I was going to conquer it; and now, it's much easier. I usually have to read everything about 3 times----once, to see what-all I need, secondly to make sure I read it correctly, then the third time, right before I dump it in the bowl. It's time-consuming----and, I've found there's no "Oh, I got this"; cuz just as soon as I take THAT attitude, I don't take as great care, and almost ALWAYS, screw-up.