I will try to break it down as simply as possible:
Autosomal --> the gene(s) with which these traits are associated is on a non-sex chromosome (i.e. not X or Y, but one of the other 22 chromosomes).
Recessive --> Every chromosome in your body is present in two copies, so you actually have a total of 23 x2 = 46 chromosomes. If a particular form of a gene (aka an allele) is recessive then you need two copies of that allele (one on each chromosome) to see any expression. Otherwise it is masked by a dominant allele on the other homologous chromosome.
How DNA makes protein --> Certain proteins in your cells unwind your DNA (which is tightly packed) and read along the strand to copy it into a corresponding mRNA molecule. This DNA->RNA process is known as transcription, and is the primary way by which the cells regulate which genes are ultimately expressed as proteins. This mRNA is then modified (this includes additions to both ends of the strand and splicing out unnecessary regions within the strand) and exported from the cell nucleus into the cytoplasm. There another set of proteins (either free in solution or embedded in the walls of a sac known as the endoplasmic reticulum) reads along the mRNA strand to make protein. This process is called translation. Unlike DNA->RNA, RNA->protein is not a one-to-one switch. IOW, if you think of RNA and proteins as chains, then every three "links" (aka nucleotides) in the mRNA chain is interpreted as a single "link" (aka amino acid) in the resulting protein. This protein is then folded with the help of chaperone proteins and may be modified in ER for transport to the cell membrane, cellular organelles, or export out of the cell entirely.
Overall: DNA--(transcription)-->RNA--(translation)-->protein [this is called the Central Dogma of biology]
Mitosis --> The process by which a parent cell divides to produce two daughter cells. The DNA is copied before mitosis so that the cell has twice as many chromosomes as usual. This DNA condenses and the nuclear envelope breaks down to release the chromosomes into the cytoplasm. A spindle aparatus forms at each end of the cell. [end prophase] Chromosomes pair up with their duplicate to form a straight line along the middle of the cell [end metaphase], and fibers from the spindle aparati attach to the chromosomes and pull two of each particular chromosome along to seperate ends of the cell. [end anaphase] The cell membrane pinches along the midline and the furrowing eventually divides the cell in two. The spindle apparatus breaks down and the nuclear envelope reforms around the DNA. [end telophase and mitosis]
Overall the stages of mitosis are: prophase --> metaphase --> anaphase --> telophase
Meiosis --> Differs from mitosis in a few ways:
1) occurs only in the germ line (i.e. sperm/eggs)
2) includes two rounds of cell division, not one like mitosis
3) daughter cells are haploid (one copy of each chromosome), because meiosis I is not preceded by DNA replication so there is half as much DNA to be distributed to the daughter cells. Those daughter cells are different than their parent cell and from each other, since each receives a random assortment of maternal or paternal chromosomes from the parent. Meoiosis II is then simply normal mitosis.
4) a cell can only undergo meiosis once (since it results in haploid progeny), unlike mitosis which can generally happen dozens of times or more.
