How to make a healthy meal in 3 steps

It’s fun to create a beautiful meal in the kitchen, but you must eat at least three times a day, and that means sometimes you have to move fast. If you practice a little bit, it’s possible to make healthy homemade dinners more quickly than you can get a takeout hamburger.

The trick is knowing how to work with your pantry staples, a few fresh ingredients, and maybe even some leftovers you happen to have in your fridge.

Here’s how you can get a healthy meal up and running using nothing more than two pots and a little time.

Excerpt from Starting From Scratch: What You Should Know About Food and Cooking. Written by Sarah Elton. Illustrations by Jeff Kulak. Published by Owlkids Books. © 2014 All rights reserved.