I enjoy eating out as well, but for a picky eater, what I usually do is keep mental notes of what they order when we go out. If there is a dish that they particularly enjoy I keep a note as too how the resturant made it.
Since I work full time and have a fairly hectic schedule, I like to stock up on ready made things from Trader Joes. I will buy the ready made stir-fry. The key is to add things to it so it taste homemade. For chicken stir fry I add my own noodles and cook my chicken in sangria instead of oil, I add fresh mushrooms and spicy seasonings. I can make it in about 10 minutes and it taste like it took forever. Make simple things too, sometimes odd combinations work well together.
I love a garlic Indian bread called naan. I will buy naan at the store, then sprinkle a balsamic vinegrette over the bread, cut up some tomatoes, add parsley and mozarella, and voila, a cheap, odd combination that works. The key to making just about ANYTHING taste good is seasoning, make sure you always have plenty of key ingredients in stock like garlic, vinegar, oil, parsley, cilantro, cumin.
One of my favorites to make is take chicken broth, and cream of mushroom, mix together and pour in the bottom of a glass pan, add several boneless chicken breasts. Then make up stuffing from the box by just adding enough water to moisten. Cover your chicken with the mushroom-broth combination and add a layer of stuffing across the top. I usually sprinkle a thin layer of mozarella over it too to solidify it. Then bake in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes.
Sorry I dont have very many recipes, I pretty just make things up as I go along and season to taste. I grew up with an Italian mother who was the best cook ever. However she never used recipes either, everything was just a "smidge" or a "pinch"