How to impress boys.

As you probably all know, my boyfriend is a chef. (A good one. Come to our parties.) Well, let me tell you about one of the most terrifying things you could do if you were me, which is: Cook for your chef boyfriend. Normally, I just make him make me everything, including the easiest things in the world (quesadillas and cereal) (entitled girlfriend alert). But this past Sunday, I decided to face my fears and make him real food. So I downloaded this awesome app called Yummly (it's also a website, you should check it out) and got to work making two delicious dishes, pasta and a salad.

I have an obsession with avocados, so when I saw this salad recipe I was all over it.

Buttered crouton salad with avocado and smoked salmon:
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. champagne vinaigrette
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tbsp. capers (coarsely chopped)
pepper
salt
1 baguette (small)
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. olive oil
salad greens
1/2 avocado
smoked salmon

So basically you're supposed to combine the first five ingredients to make some kind of fantastic salad dressing, but I'm a poor college student and also I have no idea what the heck capers are, so I got rid of that part and just bought honey-dijon dressing from the store, which I'm pretty sure was equally as fantastic.

Next step is you slice up that baguette, throw some butter and olive oil in a pan and toast those slices into croutons. Then get these croutons, the avocado, and the salmon, and put some salad under them, Sprinkle with some pepper and you're done. Full recipe here.

Pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella:
1 lb. bow-tie pasta
1 pt. cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
1/2 cup pesto
8 oz. fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup parmesan (grated)

All you do in this one is cook the pasta and barely undercook it by a minute. Then drain it, put it back in the pot, and mix in everything but the parmesan and the basil. Cover it and wait for the mozzarella cheese to melt, and then toss in the other two ingredients (side note: I could not find fresh basil anywhere so I just used the regular basil that you buy in the spice aisle). Full recipe here.

Voila! You just made the meal of your (and your chef boyfriend's) dreams.

Just be warned: after doing all this out of the kindness of your heart and doing your best to make it beautiful and thoughtful, your boyfriend will probably eat it and be impressed. He might even ask you to make it again in the future, or even later that night. But what you won't expect is that the only thing he actually wants more of is pieces of bread cooked in butter. Go figure.