Cupcake Stand: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting...

Well those who follow know - I LOVE to cook and bake!! Being that this is one of my greatest passions - I subscribe to several magazines that monthly give me ideas of new items to try and plenty of cooking/baking tips! One of my favorite subscriptions is a small little magazine that comes out quarterly by Kraft - "Food & Family". It was a free publication for many years, but like every other good thing...that too came to an end. Last year do the increase in...well everything....they began charging for their quarterly magazine. It's only $6.00 a year...and it's SO worth it for all the wonderful recipes and ideas you get! Last week I was thrilled when I opened my mail box and found the Fall, 2011 edition waiting for me to crack open! I become giddy when new food magazines arrive! :) So many yummy ideas and recipes for Autumn (my favorite season!) - but one particular stood out, and I knew I had too try this recipe sooner rather than later...Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting!

Recently C-bus has been experiencing the cooler mornings and evenings that come with this time of year...typical late August/early September weather in these parts! So I've been thinking of getting the kitchen warmed up with delicious yumminess again! (While I love to cook/bake the Summer is always so busy and super hot - so I don't cook/bake as much as I do throughout the rest of the year!) Last night was a good night to turn on the oven and bake! There was a steady cool breeze blowing in the window - so it made standing in a warm kitchen bearable. After the last night of the Girls Summer Bible Study - I ran to the store to pick up a few items that I didn't have on hand - and was thankful that I had stocked up on a few cans of pumpkin last Fall...since they didn't have it available yet in the store! I was very eager to get home and try this new recipe. As soon as I opened the Spice Cake Mix - I could smell Autumn swoosh out of the box. Instantly the room was filled with the aroma of hearty pungent spices. Then when the can of pumpkin opened, it was as if Thanksgiving had just walked into the room! The aroma of baking pumpkin and spices filled all three levels of Villa de Megalicious, in what felt like an instant - even this morning the smell lingered in the kitchen!

I've shared the finished product them with a few people - and they are no longer lurking around VdM waiting for me to consume...which my diet appreciates! There reactions were all very similar "mmm" and "oh this is really good" - all with the first bite still in their mouth!

If you love pumpkin - this one is for you! It would compliment a hot cup of coffee or a warm cup of tea! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting
(Source Kraft - Food & Family Fall, 2011)
Makes 24 cupcakes (although I got 30 out of my batch)

1 package (2-layer size) spice cake
1 cup Sour Cream (I used Kroger Brand)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1 package (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened (I used Kroger Brand)
1/4 cup butter, softened (I used REAL butter - its the only kind to use when baking/cooking)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package (16 oz) powdered sugar (again Kroger brand)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350*

Beat first 5 ingredients with mixer until well blended; spoon into 24 paper lined muffin cups. (I use the Pampered Chef large scoop when filling cupcake/muffin tins).

Bake 20 to 22 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove from pans. Cool completely.

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Blend in cinnamon. Spread over cupcakes.

Store frosted cupcakes in refrigerator.

**TIP: When making muffins and cupcakes - to reduce air pockets in your batter...once tins are filled lightly tap the pan on the counter a few times to reduce bubbles, helping to reduce empty pockets of air in your finished product. This also works for cake batters.**

P.S. My mom has already requested these be at our family Thanksgiving!!

SHOULDA, WOULDA, COULDA...

I received the challenge below in an e-mail. It was a forward of a forward of a forward - you get the picture! :) But in my recent quest to try to seize the day, to enjoy life - the big and small parts, and to slow my busy life down...I found this random e-mail to be rather thought provoking and challenging! So I thought I'd share it with each of you!

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they
haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was
coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a
little more flexible. How many women out there will eat at home because
their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been
thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy ' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few days ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect! We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is
contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now....go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? I had a friend from high school that I was always going to call and never did. The other day her name was in the obituaries so we never had that chat.

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask, 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' and in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

What about you...are you making the most of every day, every situation, every moment of this gift you have called life?