Like others said, there are some basics. I don't know about baking, it does seem somewhat more involved than what I do. But one example of something simple, which allows for variations and is pretty hard to screw up: eggs.

Melt some butter in a skillet, whisk some eggs in a bowl, drop them in the melted butter, wait for them to become hard, throw some cheese, bacon / ham / mushrooms and onions on top, fold in two. Voilà: yummy omelet.

Plenty of variations to be had with eggs: scramble them, boil them, try different kinds of cheeses, maybe add some peppers.