I am always on the lookout for a cheaper alternative when cooking or baking without sacrificing on quality or taste. While shopping the other day for Heavy Whipping Cream, I noticed the Half & Half sold right next to it. I wondered what Half & Half really was, and if it was something I could use in place of the Heavy Whipping Cream since the price was so much lower.

I first examined the two containers and noticed that the Heavy Whipping Cream indicated a 36% milk fat content.  The Half & Half didn’t indicate the milk fat content, but I figured that it was at least less than the Heavy Whipping Cream, but more than regular milk. After further research on the internet, I found out that the 36% indicates the amount of butterfat in the heavy whipping cream. The Half & Half has a butterfat content of somewhere between 10 and 18%. I conducted further research and discovered that Half & Half could be used in place of Heavy Whipping Cream, but results were mixed on whether or not it is recommended. Because of the lower fat content of the Half & Half results of the dish might vary and not be as flavorful as using Heavy Whipping Cream. Making Whipped Cream will absolutely require the use of Heavy Whipping Cream to make.

I really thought I was on to something thinking I would be saving a great deal of money purchasing the Half & Half instead of the Heavy Whipping Cream since the Heavy Whipping Cream costs a small fortune for a quart ($3.72). Half & Half is traditionally used as coffee creamer, but in a pinch when I had nothing else in the refrigerator I’ve used Heavy Whipping Cream once (maybe twice). Man was my coffee amazing that morning.

I did some math, with ratios and such. I won’t bore you with the math because my head was spinning by the time I figured out the ratio of milk to Heavy Whipping Cream that would equal about the same butterfat percentage as Half & Half. Let me just spare you the details and say that it takes about four cups of milk to two cups of Heavy Whipping Cream to get something close to Half  & Half. After all the calculations and price checking I determined that purchasing Half & Half or combining the milk with the Heavy Whipping Cream came out to about the same price.

Half & Half is about half the price of Heavy Whipping Cream, and while it does have a lower butterfat content, I don’t think that I will be sacrificing on quality enough to taste the difference unless I do a blind taste test of course, but that is way off in the future. It seems that I have found a cheaper alternative for some of my recipes by using the Half & Half, but man does that Heavy Whipping Cream taste divine in my coffee.

All the baking I did over the weekend prompted me to pull out my old Hamilton Beach Mixer for the first time to give it a spin and see if it actually worked. To my pleasant surprise, it works quite well. I only recently inherited the mixer, and was a little anxious about its performance. From the picture, you can see why I was a little hesitant. It is at least fifty years old, but works so well that you would never know except for the appearance.

I have always dreamed of owning a Kitchen Aid Mixer, but knew that it would take some saving before I could purchase one. This one works so well, that I won’t be replacing it unless it quits working. I’m not sure how the Kitchen Aid Mixers work, but if it’s anything like this old machine, I’m sure they are amazing. They are hands free, allowing liquid or other ingredients to be added to the bowl while being mixed.

When I was making the crust for the Quiche Lorraine I was able to combine the shortening and flour in the mixer. I did have to move the mixture around to the blades to be incorporated, but the mixer did all the work. I also mixed all of my ingredients for cinnamon rolls in the mixer, but had to quickly remove them, once mixed, since the dough started rising.

I could always paint it to make it look like new, but why? I think it looks kind of cool the way it is. It has that vintage feel, and it really is vintage; can’t beat that. Here’s our Quiche Lorraine we made for the week. Yum!

We had a pretty busy day today. My twin daughters’ thirteenth birthday was today. While we didn’t have the actual party today, we did take them to get a cupcake, and to do a little shopping. When we returned home I mustered up the courage to make cinnamon rolls following Amy’s recipe. These were relatively easy, and to keep the kitchen from looking like a complete disaster, I cleaned as I went and then of course finished up after all the cinnamon rolls were done.

I didn’t get huge amounts of baking done, but I have enough cinnamon rolls to feed an army now. The best part was listening to the kids reaction when the dough was rising. Here, the dough is escaping out of the bowl, clearly doing its job of rising, and I realized that I need a much larger bowl.

Friday I also managed to make four dozen peanut butter cookies, and realized for the first time in all my cookie making years that instead of making the cookies all at once, I could freeze some for future use. I made the cookies as usual, but for fifteen of the cookies I scooped them into a ball, and placed them on a tray for freezing.

Once the dough was frozen, I placed the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag, labeled it, and put it back in the freezer. These will be perfect for one of those nights where we want something sweet, but don’t want to put all the work into it.

The peanut butter cookies are some of our favorites, and I am in disbelief that I never thought to freeze the cookies for later. I still have some baking left for tomorrow, that may continue over into the first of the week as well, but I’m looking forward to the end result.

I have been reading a few blogs the last couple of days where everyone is talking about baking days. I was actually planning to have my own baking day on Sunday for our Breakfast Planning Meals before I started reading everyone else’s baking day plans. These ladies have inspired me to go ahead and get my own baking day plans in the works. The plus side about reading what others are baking is that it gives me some good ideas about what already works and what tastes great. A cold front just moved in this morning, so I think it’s a great time to start my own baking day.

There are so many ladies out there baking and cooking, I wanted to highlight a few to give you some inspiration too:

• Amy at The Finer Thing’s In Life writes about her Lazy Granola, Homemade Playdough (not for eating of course), Cinnamon Rolls, and Whole Wheat Bread
• Crystal at Money Saving Mom talks about browning meat for future use and cooked up a huge batch of whole wheat waffles.
• Lauren at Home With Olivia has some awesome looking chocolate chip cookies, homemade bread, waffles, and chicken breast cooked for later use.

I am not new to baking days, but these ladies look like they are doing an amazing job. I just cringe at what my kitchen is going to look like after I’m finished cooking and baking for the weekend. I do like the clean as you go method, otherwise I might be found lying on my kitchen floor whining about all the dishes that have to be done.

Most mornings, it’s a struggle to come up with something for breakfast that is not only quick, but nutritious. My daughters and I get up at the bright and early hour of 6:30 am so that they can be out the door by 7:05 am to catch the school bus. This gives them about thirty minutes of get ready time since they spend about five minutes of that time trying to wake-up. I am not a morning person, and neither are my daughters.

During this brief thirty minute window, they must get ready and somehow manage to consume something that resembles a nutritious breakfast. One of our favorite breakfasts is an egg in a hole (pronounced egginahole at our house), sometimes referred to as an egg in the basket. This is a good breakfast because it provides protein, the egg, and whole grain from the bread we use.

Some of the breakfast items that I can serve them can actually be prepared ahead of time to not only speed up breakfast time throughout the week, but give us a wider variety of items to eat for breakfast since some of the items are time consuming. My daughters and myself sat down and prepared a menu for the week consisting of breakfast recipes that they would enjoy. We will start our week long menu of breakfasts next week, but will prepare some of the items on Sunday afternoon. Everything prepared on Sunday can either be stored in the freezer or refrigerator for the week, excluding items that have to be made the day of.

I can’t believe that we are one-fourth of the way through the school year already and I am just now thinking about something like this. I am excited about all the possibilities for breakfast, and can’t wait to start our first Sunday cooking session. It will be a fun time to spend with the girls, teach them time management skills, and of course there will be food tasting as well.

Our first week’s planned menu is:

• Pigs in a blanket
• Banana Bread
• Egg In A Hole
• Quiche Lorraine
• Cereal or Oatmeal

The neat thing about each Sunday cooking session is that we will prepare far to much for one weeks consumption and we’ll be able to freeze some items for future use. Some of the items we plan on cooking can be used for leftovers at lunch if it is too much for breakfast for the entire week, like the Quiche Lorraine. Breakfast is one of the times we’re able to implement fiber into our diet, so I have asked my daughters to eat cereal or oatmeal at least one day of the week. We will also supplement meals with whatever fresh fruit we have on hand since it changes from week to week, based on what is on sale.

I have entered the world of scone making. I watched a show over the weekend on Food Network and thought, “Wow, is it really that easy?”. The word scone seemed so intimidating, as if I had to have a pastry class or two under my belt before I would be able to conquer them. After examining the ingredients I assured myself that they would not be difficult. Scones are really similar to biscuits. They actually reminded me of a mix between a biscuit and a shortbread cookie for the sweet scone that I ended up making.

After making them for the first time, I realized that any combination of ingredients could be added to the dough to achieve whatever flavor you desired. Scones can be sweet or savory depending on what you add to the mix. My first batch of scones were sweet with sugar, a bit of orange zest and cinnamon. The mix of orange and cinnamon gave it a really nice flavor combination, and the flavor was really evident in every bite.

There are two major differences I see in the recipe for a biscuit and a scone. The first is that instead of milk which is called for in a biscuit recipe, heavy whipping cream is used instead. The other difference of course for a sweet scone, is that sugar will need to be added. I would definitely leave the sugar out or use less of it if you are attempting a savory scone.

The flavor combinations that can be added to the dough are just swirling in my mind. The savory scone that continues to come to mind is ham and cheese, but I’ll have to try these out to see how well they do. I am also thinking for sweet scones that there are a number of combinations of nuts, dried fruit, and of course orange zest to create some nice flavors. I love the flavor that the orange zest adds. I am certain that flavored extracts could be added to the mix as well to achieve some really complex flavors, something like almond extract, orange zest, sliced almonds, and dried cherries. Yum! I followed the recipe from Food Network’s site almost exactly, except I did not use lemon, cherries, or almonds. I used what I had on hand, but these seem so diverse that any combination of items would seem to work.

Now on to making the scones. These are very similar to biscuits so my butter was cold and sliced into small cubes before adding to the flour mixture. I have experimented with a few different ways to combine the ingredients and have settled on two that seem to work for me. I start with a pastry blender to combine the butter and flour mixture, and end up using a fork to finish combining them before adding the wet ingredients. I continue using the fork once I add the wet ingredients and then transfer the mixture to a flat floured surface for kneading. I split the mixture into two halves and ended up with sixteen scones that were of adequate size. These are a new family favorite at my house, and so easy to do.