For Mary-Lane Kamberg, the questions from her daughter Rebekka started soon after the young woman moved into a townhouse during her sophomore year in 1996 at Indiana University.

“She started calling and asking me, ‘How do you make tuna noodle casserole?’ ‘How do you make chicken and rice?’ ‘How long do you cook roast beef?'” Kamberg recalled.

That gave Kamberg, a longtime freelance writer who lives in Olathe, an idea.

“I thought, ‘I bet there’s a lot of college students who don’t know how to cook.'”

Those conversations with her daughter eventually led to Kamberg’s seventh nonfiction book, “The I Don’t Know How to Cook Book: 300 Great Recipes You Can’t Mess Up” (Adams Media, April 2004), $14.95.

Kamberg, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kansas University in 1980, designed her first cookbook primarily with college students in mind. But she intended it to be helpful for anyone who’s stepping into the kitchen for the first time. Or someone who just wants to be a competent rather than gourmet chef.

That describes Kamberg — a meat-and-potatoes Kansan — perfectly.

“I hate to cook. I only like to make things that are real easy. This cookbook is for the kind of cooking I like to do: no weird ingredients, no exotic spices or flavors,” she said.

“I like to make soup, that’s real easy. I like to make things in a crockpot.”

Chris Braymen, a Shawnee senior at Kansas University, struggles with a recipe. Maybe he could use some help from Mary-Lane Kamberg's new cookbook, The

Kamberg, a Leawood native, has been married to Ken Kamberg for 36 years. Ken, originally from Prairie Village, earned his bachelor’s degree from KU in 1974.

What was her husband’s reaction to her becoming a cookbook author?

“He’s a little disappointed. He thought I’d actually start cooking again,” Mary-Lane said.

Beginner in mind

For college students, newlyweds or even seniors, Kamberg’s book could prove to be a handy guide in the kitchen.

Her cookbook, always keeping the beginner in mind, offers reasonable, easy-to-do alternatives to eating packaged food, fast food or takeout.

Recipes in each of the chapters — including breakfast, salads, main dishes for carnivores, vegetarian and vegan entrees, side dishes, snacks and desserts — are organized by level of difficulty: easy, medium or hard.

Mary-Lane Kamberg, of Olathe and a 1980 Kansas University graduate, will sign copies of her book, “The I Don’t Know How to Cook Book: 300 Great Recipes You Can’t Mess Up” at 2 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books Music & Cafe, 700 N.H. Kamberg is the author of seven nonfiction books. Her articles have appeared in many publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, the Christian Science Monitor, Marriage and Family Living and Healthy Kids. Recipes from the book

Baked cod, for instance, is categorized as easy, shrimp pesto pasta as medium and beef stroganoff as hard.

Many recipes call for pre-cooked ingredients, such as pie crust, pizza sauce or refrigerated crescent rolls, while others start from scratch.

The book features how to equip a kitchen, a glossary of cooking terms and directions for cooking vegetables. And there also are bold boxes that address challenges such as: browning ground beef, roasting meat and poultry and testing pasta for doneness.

So how does someone who’s a professional writer — Kamberg’s co-chair of the Kansas City Writers Group — but not exactly Julia Child in the kitchen, come off as an authority on cooking?

“I sent an e-mail (requesting favorite recipes) to all my writer friends and my relatives, as well. The subject line was ‘Help.’ They just started showering me with recipes. My rule of thumb was, if it sounded easy to me, it made it (into the book),” Kamberg said.

It didn’t hurt that her mother and two sisters are experienced cooks and freely offered their advice.

With her cookbook, novices should find themselves pretty well covered.

“Boiling water’s in there. I’m serious. It goes from boiling water to making meatloaf and lasagna.”

Getting out of a rut

Cookbooks like Kamberg’s are a good reference for college students who want to branch out and learn how to fend for themselves in the kitchen, according to Ann Chapman, coordinator of nutrition services at KU’s Watkins Student Health Center.

“What I see when they eat in are the inexpensive items: Ramen noodles, Hamburger Helper and Rice-a-Roni, macaroni and cheese — convenience boxed products that you add a little meat or a little milk (to) and you have dinner,” she said.

Learning to cook for themselves is a healthier choice for students, because they can have more control over how much fat, sodium, sugar and calories they’re eating.

Being able to make a broad range of dishes is good, too.

“Students get in a rut and eat the same things night after night for dinner. That’s not a problem in the short term, but over time it’s important to vary what you eat, to include different types of fruit and vegetables, meat and grains. It’s important, both psychologically and nutritionally,” Chapman said.

She also recommended students take a look at “The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick, Cheap, Easy” (Storey Books, 1999) as a good resource for recipes that include nutritional breakdowns.

Kamberg’s cookbook already has one satisfied reader at KU: her niece Brynn White, 19, a sophomore from Overland Park.

White recently used recipes from her aunt’s book (baked lemon chicken and Caesar’s salad) as the basis for her first dinner party in a new apartment.

“It turned out perfect. I followed the directions to a tee, and all of the guests couldn’t believe it,” White said.

“I called (Kamberg) after I made it, and I was like, ‘Mary-Lane, I made something from your cookbook!’ I was freaking out. My friends were there, and they were pretty excited.”