Something my mom said, I am slightly paraphrasing: Cooking is simple, you just put things on heat source, don't let it burn i.e. add ingredients in the 'right' order, control the heat, stir and stir; balance the salt and pepper. Voila.

The updated version is: heat the pan, add little oil or butter, lightly fry chopped onions, add stuff to it, stir to prevent burning, sprinkle salt and pepper, Voila. When you're ready to start being fancy, experiment with spice mix, later you don't have to rely on spice mixes.