Don't worry, I AM still here. I know you were worried. Don't play.

Since I last wrote, I have not been:

1. on vacation in Hawaii

2. guest starring on Conan

3. making any game winning 3 point shots at the buzzer

4. shopping on Rodeo Drive

5. writing a novel

However...

Since I last wrote, I have been:

1. working on more recipes

2. working on a baby quilt (not for me...just putting that out there)

3. planting seeds for a vegetable garden

4. battling the shingles (not the kind on the roof, unfortunately)

5. reading novels

So as you can see, I have and have not been very busy. This is no excuse for my lack of posts, but I hope you can forgive me. As a peace offering I give you this:

Super Easy and Delicious Apple Dip with 3 Ingredients

1 - 8oz block of cream cheese, softened

1- cup brown sugar

1- teaspoon vanilla

Step One:

Place your ingredients in a bowl.

This is a very important step.

Step Two:

Mix aforementioned ingredients.

Also an important step.

Step Three:

Eat. Tha. Dip.

Seriously, this is a delicious fruit dip. It is almost carmel-ish and is the best way to get me to eat an entire apple. It is also good when eaten directly off of the spoon. Or when used in another recipe (hint hint).

I will try to be better about posting regularly and you can count on hearing more about items 1-4 on the "Things I have been doing" list. I probably won't write about how I've been reading novels. Probably.

Much Love,

Plain Nicole

Elevensies!

March 9th is a very special day for one little lady:

Well hello there tiny princess child!

Today is the 11th birthday of my youngest sister! She is a very twirly sister.

Who is unusually good at Wii Boxing.

And a very picky eater....not unlike someone else I know...

She has wonderful freckles.

She is content to do her own thing.

Which often includes making me laugh!

She is artistic.

And sweet (especially when she still had those baby teeth!)

She is quite independent.

She is very cuddly.

She has not yet mastered the art of crossing her eyes.

Maybe when she's 12.

She has an amazing hair stylist.

And oh yes, she is almost a teenager.

Dear sister,

Please stop growing.

Love,

Sister

Strangely Delicious Frosting

Believe it or not, I am picky about frosting.

I know, you can not believe it.

I am one of those people who will usually scrape all but 1/8 of the frosting off of a piece of cake. Something about it is usually too heavy for me.

This particular frosting recipe, however, caught my eye when I saw that there was no powdered sugar in it and it was made with FLOUR.

Weird, right?

This frosting is light...almost whipped....and quite tasty! You should give it a try. I (again) made 1/2 of the original recipe and had plenty left over.

You will need:

2.5 tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk (or half and half if you are trying to get rid of it)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar (the real stuff...get yo powdery mess outta here)

First off, put your butter and sugar into a bowl so the butter can be softening.

Your next step will be pouring the milk and flour into a saucepan.

Heat it over medium/high and be sure to stir stir stir. We don't want any burnt milkflour.

Try and make sure you have a gigantic whisk.

Ok, so that might not actually be important....it was all I had.

You want to stir your milkflour until it is the consistency of brownie batter - aka - pretty thick. It should not be runny. Repeat! No runny runny.

It should actually be quite globular. Goopy. Thickly.

Once you have removed your milkflour from the burner and it has had a few minutes to cool, add the vanilla and mix it in well.

Next you will let this mixture sit until it is completely cool. Mine took about 20 minutes.

Now you need to go back to your butter/sugar combo that has been quietly softening in the corner and mix until light and fluffy.

If your butter is not soft this step is not going to work.

If your butter is not even close to soft and you try putting it in the microwave you are going to end up with a gloppy mess.

Trust me on this one.

Once your butter/sugar mixture is nice and fluffy, add your completely cooled milkflour on in.

And mix mix mix. You want to mix until it resembles whipped cream....and then keep mixing.

An insider's tip: go ahead and take a taste test when you think you've mixed enough. If you still have sugar granules, keep mixing! It might take several minutes.

Once you have mixed your little heart out you can either plop some frosting into a baggie and do cute little swirlies:

Or you can slather it on with a butter knife. Whichever.

OR! You could put it directly IN your mouth.

That works too!

Coming soon....chocolate cake recipe!

-Plain Nicole