Category: Learning Project

Wrapping it Up

Posted on by Carson Boyer

When I was starting up my learning project I knew I had to improve my cooking skills. Growing up I was lucky enough to not have to rely on myself to make nutritious meals. This hit hard during my time in University when I was away from home. I became too reliant on food that I could throw in the oven, or meals like kraft dinner that are easy but not necessarily that healthy. This project gave me the chance to really work on this life skill that is needed. It’s not like I had never cooked before but I was in no way good at cooking. I can say at the end of this learning project that I am more prepared to cook more challenging meals than I was before

 

Learning Project week 1

Introduction

  • Here is where I made it clear where my skill level was. I also gave the readers my experience when it comes to making meals for myself. I also set up goals for things I might make during the semester.

 

Learning Project week 2

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

 https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/158140/spaghetti-sauce-with-ground-beef/

  • This was a simpler meal that is really easy to have for leftovers. I wanted to have something that I could have for leftovers for a bit and this fit the bill. I also chose spaghetti because you can never go wrong with it, and it is really simple to make.

 

Learning Project week 3

Sloppy Joes

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24264/sloppy-joes-ii/ 

  • For this meal I decided to make Sloppy Joes. This is an extremely messy meal (DO NOT WEAR WHITE), but it is soooooo good. It is really simple to make which I was looking for because I felt like I was still in the beginning stages of this learning project.

 

Learning Project week 4

Bannock

https://albertametis.com/news/bannock-recipe/ 

  • As a Métis person I felt it was important to make at least one traditional food for this project. I’ve only made bannock once before this but I was being supervised well making it. It was a really cool experience to be able to make Bannock by myself.

 

Learning Project week 5

Banana Bread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob8eL4mMOys

  • I wanted to make Banana Bread because I was missing my Grandma’s baking. She often drops off Banana Bread at my place in Swift Current and I was missing it. The resources I used which provided the recipe and instructions was easy to follow because it was a video. Overall this Banana Bread was really good but still has nothing on my Grandma’s.

 

 

Learning Project week 6

Fish Tacos

https://www.themeateater.com/cook/recipes/walleye-tacos 

  • I chose to make Fish Tacos with walleye meat first off because I love eating fish and secondly I have way too much in my freezer. I really like the source that I found online because it is more than just a place to find recipes. Overall this meal was exactly what I wanted it to be so I’ll take that as a win.

 

Learning Project week 7

Chocolate Chip Cookies

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/the-best-chocolate-chip-cookies.html 

  • I wanted to give baking another chance and I wanted to try chocolate chip cookies. The recipe I used was super easy to follow which allowed myself to make delicious chocolate chip cookies.

 

Learning Project week 8

Homemade Burgers

https://www.thewholesomedish.com/the-best-classic-burger/

  • I was wanting to make a homemade burger because I was missing small town rink burgers since it is hockey season. This recipe I used was a really simple yet delicious burger. Safe to say it brought back some memories of my time growing up both playing hockey and watching my older brother play.

 

Learning Project week 9

Homemade Pizza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDX8fylSisU 

  • Pizza is one of my favourite things to eat. I learned how to make pizza basically from scratch which I will definitely use again. I still think I’ll order pizza but this i a good meal to know how to make

 

Learning Project week 10

Philly Cheesesteak

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a54006/easy-homemade-philly-cheesesteak-recipe/ 

  • I wanted to give this famous food a shot. I learned a lot of interesting facts of how this food was made and what to look for when getting prepared to make this meal.

 

My Takeaways

Overall I will say this learning project was extremely beneficial for myself. It gave me a ton of good resources of recipes that I can find online. It also opened my eyes on how much more I can integrate technology into my everyday life rather than just using it for entertainment. I do think it would be interesting to have my future students do something similar to this in their own learning. It’s clear that whatever you decide to learn about there will be improvement but it also offers the skills that are needed to learn from the internet individually.

Philly Cheesesteak

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 green bell peppers, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced
  • 2 red bell peppers, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced
  • 1 large yellow onion, sliced
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 lb. sirloin steak, thinly sliced
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 slices provolone
  • 4 hoagie rolls

Why I chose to make a Philly Cheesesteak

I wanted to make a Philly Cheesesteak because I’ve never eaten one before. With how popular of a street food this is I figured I’d give it a shot. I won’t be using peppers due to personal preference. I also realize before making this meal that I can’t judge the food based on how I make it. I know if I went to Philadelphia they would have this food mastered and I would probably have a completely different opinion on it. I also find it interesting that it was made because a guy got sick of selling hotdogs and now it is one of the most famous American foods.

 

What I learned

Some things I learned before I even started cooking was “You’ll want to pick a type of steak that is well-marbled and can be sliced super-thin so that it cooks quickly while staying nice and juicy” another thing was “choose a cheese that is relatively mild in flavour and melts well, like provolone or even American”. To start making the Philly cheese steak I got a large skillet over medium heat and heat 1 tablespoon of oil.  From here I added onions and I seasoned them with salt. From here I stirred well and cooked for about 12 minutes. After the onions were cooked I put the onions on a plate. The next step was “In the same skillet over medium-high heat, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Cook steak, turning occasionally, until desired degree of doneness, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper”. After this step I took my onions and added them back with the steak and added the cheese. I cooked till the cheese melted. After this I cut the stake into pieces and put the ingredients into a bun. The only thing left for me to do was eat.

 

Results

Honestly this wasn’t my favourite thing to eat. I’m just going to assume it’s because I’ve never cooked it before. Like I stated previously, I can’t judge this food based on how I made it. I guess this means I will need to make my way to Philadelphia for an authentic Philly Cheesesteak. I’m still going to try making this down the road and I will try a different recipe.

Homemade Pizza

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 ounces of warm water
  • Pizza sauce
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • Pepperoni slices

 

Why I chose to make a homemade pizza

I chose to make pizza just because it is one of my favourite things to eat. I usually just order pizza and this can get super expensive so I want to know a recipe that I can use whenever I crave pizza. Pizza is also a meal that is easy to have for leftovers so I can have a meal ready when I’m working on assignments in university. Time is a very valuable thing in university so sometimes the less time I have cooking is really beneficial for putting my time towards finishing up assignments.

 

What I learned

The first few steps of making the pizza dough was exactly what I was expecting. I put a cup of the all-purpose flour in a bowl and added one teaspoon of yeast, one teaspoon of sugar, and a quarter teaspoon of salt and stirred it around. After this I added one tablespoon of olive oil and three ounces of warm water into the bowl. From here it was time to stir the ingredients then eventually knead the dough. This is when it was time to get my hands dirty. The video told me to knead the dough till it was soft but not sticky. I wasn’t too sure when the dough would become sticky so I just did this for two minutes. After this I got a new bowl and greased it up with oil and kept it on my counter and put a towel over it to let the dough rise for about 40 minutes like the video suggested. After this, I avoided the step of making the pizza sauce from scratch. I felt like I could save time by just buying pizza sauce from the store. Now it was the fun part where I shredded Mozzarella cheese, sliced up onions (started tearing up). From there I started to roll the dough with a rolling pin till it was ready to be put on the pizza pan. This was the most fun part of the process. Once it was in the pan I got a fork and started poking holes in the dough so it cooked properly. After this, I put the pizza sauce on the pizza dough and spread it evenly, put the cheese, pepperoni slices, and onions on the pizza. From here I threw the pizza in the oven and let it bake. The only thing left to do is eat the pizza.

 

Results

I can’t complain too much with how this meal turned out. The youtube video I got this recipe from was extremely easy to follow along with as well. I don’t know if I will ever make pizza dough by scratch again because I feel it just is more work than is needed, but I’m still glad I learned how to make pizza dough. For this one time cooking it would probably be less expensive if I just ordered a pizza but when I can use the ingredients I bought for other meals it is less expensive. I still prefer the taste of Dominos but overall it still was decent to eat.

Homemade burgers

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

 

  • 1 1/2 pounds 80% lean 20% fat ground beef or ground chuck
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Optional: 4 slices of cheese
  • 4 hamburger buns
  • Optional: hamburger toppings – lettuce tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.

Why I chose to make a homemade burger

This week I chose to make homemade burgers. It’s now hockey season and there is no better way to watch a game than eating a homemade burger. When I was growing up I traveled to many different small town rinks that all had their own unique burger. Burgers that are homemade almost always taste better than the burgers that are made at fast food restaurants. I wanted to see if I was capable of making my own burger that would allow me to somewhat relive my experiences growing up in small town rinks. Other than at hockey games I think of eating burgers at the lake right before starting a fire. This also gave me inspiration for making the burgers because it reminds me of times with family and friends that I had at the cabin.

 

What I learned

Before making the burgers, this website gave me a good tip for choosing the best beef for the burger. It says that the best beef for a burger is 80% lean and 20% fat. This isn’t something I knew before because usually when I make burgers the patty is already made and all the person making the burger needs to do is throw it on the barbeque. I also agree that a good burger doesn’t require a ton of ingredients like this website points out. Once I had all the materials the first step was to get a bowl and add the ground beef, the sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and the pepper. Once I added all of these ingredients I mixed with my hands. This was all pretty simple, so there wasn’t too much to learn through these steps. Once I mixed all of these ingredients the recipe suggested I divide it into four even amounts. After this I made them into the shapes that a burger should be at about ¾ of an inch thick. The recipe suggested that I made an indent in the middle of the burger patties. I’m not too sure how important this step is but I followed along. If I had to guess this just allows the burger to cook more evenly. After this I cooked each side of the burger on medium high for about seven minutes. The recipe told me to only cook for about four minutes but this didn’t feel like enough for me personally. Once the burger was done now it was the easy part where I put onions, lettuce, cheese, ketchup and mayo on the burger with buns that I bought at the store.

 

Results

This burger was really good to eat. It wasn’t like the burgers that are made at the fast food restaurants which is what I was hoping for. I would suggest this recipe to everyone because of its simplicity. This burger had that small town rink feeling which was what I was hoping for. Still wasn’t my favourite burger I have ever had but I’ve had some amazing burgers in my day. 

Making Bannock and Using iMovie to Document

Posted on by Carson Boyer

This week I’ve chosen to make Bannock. Bannock is a traditional food of many Indigenous cultures in North America including the Métis. I am a Métis person but I haven’t made Bannock that much. This could be for multiple reasons but the biggest reason for this is because my family members that came before me went “underground”. What I mean by this is they were forced to leave some of their traditional ways of being, in order to be accepted by Canadians. Things that are passed down through families like food are often no longer being taught anymore another example of this is Métis language that is known as “Michif”. I wanted to get the recipe for Bannock from a reputable source so I chose a website which represents that.

 

I chose to document my learning with iMovie. I movie was an extremely easy resource to use. I took videos on my phone, then went into the app and placed the videos in the order that I wanted. From here, I made it into a youtube video and uploaded it to the blog. This app also gives people the opportunity to make storyboards, and trailers. I found a great resource that helped me create my iMovie and it was a great help with creating this video.

Anyways here is how I made Bannock

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar (fine to substitute light)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off (see note)
  • 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Ghirardelli

 

Why I chose to make Chocolate Chip Cookies

I chose to make Chocolate Chip Cookies because I want to bake again. I really enjoyed the last time I baked and figured why not. Cookies are also something that I could snack on here or there so it seemed like a good idea to me. To add to that, cookies and milk are one of the best combinations that I can think of. I decided on using this recipe because I like how there are pictures on every step. For someone like me that is new to baking it helped me to have a visual representation of the steps. I chose to make this at my grandma’s house because she had all the equipment needed.

 

What I learned

In a bowl combine both sugars with butter and mix it with an electric mixer. Mix at high speed (using a hand mixer) for three minutes. After this I added the vanilla extract and eggs and beat for two more minutes. After this add the baking soda and salt and mix till evenly combined. After this I added the flour and mixed on low speed till it looked like it did in the pictures on the recipe.Once it looked like the pictures I added the chocolate chips. The next part that I did was covering the bowl in plastic wrap and putting it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I showed up to my grandmas and preheated the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Next we made small balls out of the dough leaving a bit of space between every one of them. We let them bake for about 12 minutes then we took the cookies out. We repeated this step till we had no dough left. After this me and my grandma split the cookies and I took half of the cookies to Regina and shared them with my roommates. 

 

The results

I gotta say… These Cookies SMACKED. They were really good. I think the pictures helped me a lot. It made it easier for me to see that I was ready or not ready to move onto the next step. I let my roommates have some and they had nothing bad to say about the results so I can’t complain. Overall, having the pictures really helped my process, I still prefer videos but this was a definite win.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fish Tacos

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 4 walleye fillets
  • 16 Ritz crackers
  • ⅔ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. blackened seasoning
  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 3 tbsp. mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp. lime juice
  • Pinch of salt
  • ⅛ tsp. celery seed
  • Frying oil
  • Stack of taco-size flour tortillas
  • Sliced ripe avocado
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Pickled sliced jalapeños
  • Hot sauce or salsa

Why I chose to make Fish Tacos

I chose to make fish tacos because I already have a lot of walleye in the freezer that is ready to be eaten.  Walleye is one of my favourite things to eat and is super healthy. This is the main species of fish that I target when I fish because they are easy to fillet and have white meat. I caught these fish in the South Saskatchewan River near the Saskatchewan Landing and Duncairn Dam. The MeatEater website stood out to me because it is an outdoor lifestyle company. MeatEater has a show on Netflix that has six seasons that I found interesting to watch. Overall this website just stood out to me.

What I learned

In a bowl I combined coleslaw (instead of shredded cabbage) with mayo lime juice, salt and celery seed. I got coleslaw instead just because of personal preference. This was a pretty simple step to making fish tacos so I didn’t have any problems with it. The next step was to get crackers in a ziplock bag and crush it. I’ve never used crackers so this was definitely an interesting step. I’ve done this with chips so it wasn’t too big of a learning curve. I then added this to panko breadcrumbs and blackened seasoning. In another bowl I beat eggs and in a third bowl I had flour. The next part was to “In a frying pan, heat 1 inch of oil to 325°F. To bread the walleye, first lightly coat with flour, then dip in the egg wash, and finish in the Ritz mixture, gently pressing the coating into the meat.”. I usually deep fry my fish so this was a little bit different but still had the same idea. Other than that the process of what I know when cooking fish was similar. After both sides of the walleye was golden I had a plate with paper towel on it to put the fish on.The next step was to break the fish in small pieces and put on the tortillas with the rest of the ingredients then eat.

Results

Overall the fish tacos were good. I’m usually not a big fan of spicy foods but every once in a while it is okay. This recipe gave me a different fish batter that I could use. I still prefer the one I usually use but this is still good. I really like the website that I did get this recipe from. It is not only a place to get recipes but also order ingredients, equipment, etc. I think I’ll keep this website in my back pocket. I also am friends with a bunch of people that hunt and fish and will recommend this website to them.

Banana Bread

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (215g)

1 tsp baking soda (6g)

1 tsp salt (6g)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (3g)

3/4 cup brown/granulated sugar (150g)

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature (113g)

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas mashed (430g)

1 tsp vanilla (5ml)

 

Why I chose to make Banana Bread

I chose to make Banana Bread because I was missing my Grandma’s baked goods back home. Usually my Grandma Linda drops Banana Bread once every month. I have to admit, she makes Banana Bread better than anyone I know. So I was quite nervous to make it because I knew it wasn’t going to be as good as her Banana Bread. I chose to follow a recipe that I found on Youtube. I wanted to switch it up from making a meal to make something to snack on here and there. I also wanted to try out a video because I feel like the learning would feel more interactive than just reading the recipe and instructions like I have been doing. Lastly I haven’t baked in so long I figured why not give it a shot and see how it goes. 

 

Things that I Learned well making Banana Bread

I didn’t realize that the bananas you use are ripe and I didn’t have couple of ripe bananas laying around. I have to admit I wasn’t too big of a fan of touching the mushy bananas but it was to make banana bread so I couldn’t complain too much. I learned a cool trick to get the bananas ripe. It is to put the bananas on the baking sheet and to cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes. This will get the Bananas ready to make Banana Bread. This will be a useful trick to have anytime I want to make Banana Bread in the future. The first mistake I think I made was over-mixing the batter. I think this because when I tried eating the Banana Bread it was kind of tough. The person I was listening to was saying it should be soft and tender so next time I bake I will be more careful with my mixing. It wasn’t the biggest deal though because I still found the Banana Bread I made to be good to eat. One small thing I caught was the baking time between me and the person who was giving the instructions was a little bit off. It wasn’t the biggest problem though because I checked to see what the inside was like with a toothpick. My Grandma told me it shouldn’t be gooey on the inside so I just let the Banana Bread bake for a few more minutes. The next time I bake anything I will need to consider that the time needed for the products to bake may vary a few minutes so I just need to be a little bit more cautious. Lastly but not to big of a deal is I need to invest in an apron because wow.. baking can be messy at times.

 

Results

Like I explained above I think I over-mixed the batter which caused the result to not be as good as it probably should’ve been. With that being said it wasn’t like it was bad. I think the next time I make Banana Bread I will add chocolate chips like my Grandma does. I think that was one of the key ingredients I was missing. I really like using Youtube because I felt it offered me a more interactive way to learn how to make Banana Bread than a recipe would. I also think it was beneficial for myself to try Baking. It was my first time doing this since Foods in high school (A class in High School I took). Overall I think my Grandma would be proud of me for making this even though it’s not nearly as good as hers. Any suggestions on my next adventure?

Sloppy Joes

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
  • ¾ cup ketchup, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, or to taste
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 6 hamburger buns, split

Directions

  1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir lean ground beef in the hot skillet until some of the fat starts to render, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and bell pepper; continue to cook until vegetables have softened and beef is cooked through, 3 to 5 more minutes.
  2. Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
  3. Divide meat mixture evenly among hamburger buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before

Like my last meal I decided to make something quick and easy so I chose Sloppy Joes! I’ve been studying for a midterm so I wanted to make something that doesn’t take too long to cook, so I would have as much time to study as possible. I also took the peppers out just because I’m not a big fan of it. Sloppy Joe’s are something that I grew up eating so I knew I would like it. I also made this because it is easy to have for leftovers. I also added a cheese slice to each sloppy joe I would make.

 

During

I started the skillet on medium heat like the directions told me to. From here, I stirred the ground beef well it was cooking until I saw some of the juices from the meat. From here I added the onion, but I didn’t add the peppers due to personal preference. I let the beef and onions cook until the vegetables softened and the meat browned. When the vegetables were softened and the meat was browned I started adding other ingredients like the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, garlic powder and the salt and pepper. After I did all of that I turned down the heat to low and I cooked for about 25 minutes, well stirring occasionally. From here it was ready to eat so I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

After eating this meal I’d say it turned out pretty good. Like the last meal it wasn’t anything special but it did the job. This meal was perfect for the time I had available with my studying, and I didn’t need to go to crazy to find the ingredients. Overall this is a meal that doesn’t take too much preparation but still is really good. I will say this, DO NOT WHERE A WHITE SHIRT WHEN EATING … this is a very messy meal. If you have any suggestions in what I should make next leave a comment below. Thanks!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Before

The first meal I decided to make for myself was spaghetti and meat sauce.  Like I explained in a previous post I wanted to start out nice and easy. I’m not a big fan of tomatoes or peppers so I took those ingredients out of the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef.  I also made quite a bit so I would be able to have this meal for left overs, and to be able to freeze it for the future. This is a meal that is easy, and you can’t really go wrong with Spaghetti. I’ve never made a spaghetti sauce before so I was excited to add that into my own cookbook.

 

During

To begin I got all the ingredients ready on the table and started going to work. The first thing I did was start making the sauce. To do this I got the ground beef and broke it up and added the onion and garlic, I also added a bit of salt and pepper well it cooked on medium. I had to facetime my mom a few times to make sure I wasn’t messing up. As a colourblind person I struggled with seeing it turn brown. I also wasn’t exactly sure what the recipe was trying to say when it said “vegetables are tender” so I just assumed it meant when the vegetables are soft. Anyways, well I was waiting on the sauce to be done I stirred it around basically continuously because I did not want it to burn. The next step I took was putting the tomato sauce and tomato paste in a pan and started letting it cook. As I stirred I added the oregano, basil and salt. I let this cook for about 30 minutes and I stirred every now and then.

 

As all of this was going on I was also making the spaghetti which was pretty simple. I let the water start boiling then I added butter, salt and the spaghetti. Well that was cooking I gave it a few stirs. When it was ready I drained the water out and put a teaspoon of butter in. After this I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

Now that I have finished making this meal, I can say it went pretty well. This definitely isn’t the best spaghetti sauce I have had but it was still good. It was quite the experience to be able to do this for the first time. I’m glad I started with something simple to build up my confidence for the next meal. At this point I’m not too sure what to do, so if you have any suggestions please comment below your recommendations. The recipe I made is below.

 

 

Ingredients (Sauce)

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

Ingredients (Spaghetti)

Water

Spaghetti

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of butter

 

Directions for Sauce

  1. Gather all ingredients.
  2. Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until meat is browned and crumbly and vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain grease.
  3. Stir tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, and salt. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Serve hot and enjoy!

Directions for Spaghetti

  1. Boil water in pot. Well the water is boiling add butter, a pinch of salt, and spaghetti
  2. Turn water to medium heat (cook for 15-20 min). Stir occasionally.
  3. Drain pasta and add teaspoon of butter