If you are faint of heart when it comes to cooking with heavy whipping cream and lots of eggs (or wary of high cholesterol), you might want to stay away from this recipe. This Bread Pudding with Spiced Rum Sauce recipe asks for eight, yes EIGHT, eggs and 2 cups of whipping cream. I'd say it's darn worth it though. Drizzled with the rum sauce, this bread pudding is a fantastic fall dessert. It's incredibly easy to make and impressive to serve -- this recipe is restaurant quality because it actually comes from a restaurant in Mississippi.

• This picture does not do the bread pudding justice. Not too pretty, but you'll understand the hype once you eat it.

I halved the recipe and used a 9x9 pan. A tip: It's best to assemble the bread pudding and let it sit overnight in the fridge before you bake it in order to let the bread really soak up the creamy mixture. And, if you use cinnamon raisin bread, you can skip a step and omit adding more raisins.

Bread Pudding

8 large eggs

3 1/2 cups whole milk

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1-pound loaf cinnamon challah or cinnamon-swirl bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup golden raisins

Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. Add milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla; whisk to blend well. Stir in bread and raisins. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake pudding uncovered until puffed and golden, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool slightly (pudding will fall). Serve warm with Spiced Rum Sauce.

Spiced Rum Sauce

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons spiced rum or dark rum

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add cream, rum, and cinnamon and bring to simmer. Simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes. Serve warm. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before serving.)

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

When the weather gets chilly, a nice warm hearty pasta totally hits the spot. This Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta is the perfect fall dish -- it contains pumpkin, flavorful sweet Italian sausage, and just a hit of cream. I usually balk at recipes that call for heavy cream, but did you know pumpkin is loaded with the important antioxidant beta-carotene? Feel good about eating this dish! It makes a lot, so invite some friends over.

I served the pasta with Bread Pudding with Spiced Rum Sauce for dessert. The recipe for this heart-stopper will be coming soon...

We can thank the queen of 30-minute meals, Rachel Ray, for this recipe.

Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon

1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage

4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 bay leaf, fresh or dried

4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, cut into chiffonade, about 2 tablespoons

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock, canned or paper container

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup (3 turns around the pan) heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated

Coarse salt and black pepper

1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente

Romano or Parmigiano, for grating

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.

The seasons are changing and the weather outside is getting crisp and chilly ... and in a Punxsutawney Phil-like way, that signals for me to crank up the oven and start baking again.

First item to bake: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars, from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa). The peanut butter and jelly combo is innocent and reminiscent of childhood, but these bars are also sophisticated enough that will grown-ups like them.

Making them is relatively easy. Peanut butter based dough is spread in a pan, layered with strawberry jam, and then globs of more dough is dropped on top. Sprinkle the whole thing with chopped peanuts and slide it into the oven for 40 minutes or so. I halved the recipe here to make a 9x9 pan instead of 9x13. Instead of dealing with lining the pan with parchment paper to avoid the bars from sticking to the pan, I just used some Baker's Joy non-stick spray (I swear by that stuff).

Because these are similar to a PB & J sandwich, I'd say they qualify as breakfast, lunch and dessert. I brought a few extra Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars to work today and they got two big thumbs up. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

(courtesy of Ina Garten)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter (recommended: Skippy)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) raspberry jam or other jam
• 2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; it will spread in the oven. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.