Ben,
I've worked only with QuickBooks Pro, but find it quite easy to use -- though we had our accountant set up our Chart of Accounts and basically get the system ready for us. Intuit does offer QuickBooks Simple Start, which may be what you need.

Peachtree also has a strong base of users and it offers First Accounting. And Microsoft is shipping its small business accounting application this fall, which is supposed to be tightly integrated with Microsoft Office. Since you're starting from stratch, you may want to give that a look, too.

If I were you, I'd check in with my accountant or bookkeeper and ask what he or she recommends. Many times, accountant prefer a particular program and life will be a lot easier if you are in sync.