Everything pumpkin

I didn't grow up with pumpkins. They are not very popular in Eastern Europe, I think nothing could take place of the ever reigning potato. Pumpkin pies, soups, pumpkin patch and calling your significant other a "punkin' " - those pleasant traditions were not very difficult for me to adapt and I would truly miss them if I ever lived in Europe again!
When looking for easy yet impressive recipes on Pinterest, my new and already favorite website, I had many to pick from, yet I choose recipes that incorporated already pre-made Betty Crocker cake mix, in fact one of them WAS a Betty Crocker recipe. I know, I know... does that count as homemade then? Well, I will argue that we all need some extra help in the kitchen sometimes and as long as it was not purchased in the store, I am very happy with what I got! So here are the 2 tasty pumpkin recipes that you just MUST try!

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes (from Betty Crocker Website)

• 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake mix - the recipe posted online asks for yellow cake, you can really choose any flavor, I picked vanilla
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix all ingredients and bake cupcakes 19-24 minutes at 350.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
• 1 lb powdered sugar

Warm up cream cheese and butter so that it's easy to add and mix in the powdered sugar. It's that easy! You can really make this simple frosting into any flavor you want by adding some flavoring, looking back I wish I added some orange zest, but the cupcakes were delicious regardless.
Now, if you toast some finally chopped pecans with sugar, they could serve as a pretty garnish on your cupcakes!

Pumpkin Layer Dessert

This one is found on Pinterest as well, and it comes from another blogger, so I will let you just go to her blog for the recipe, just click HERE! The recipe is easy and very delicious and I will be making it for Thanksgiving in lieu of a pumpkin pie.