Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies

I was thinking of making banana bread with some old bananas of mine one day, but decided that cookies would be a much better way of distributing them out to friends! If you don't have all the spices on hand, just cinnamon will do... I just love adding all the other spices to give a chai spice flavor to my oatmeal cookies. I didn't have chocolate chips, so I melted a dark chocolate bar and drizzled it on top. Adding walnuts or pecans would also be a great combo!

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch ground clove
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups oats
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 mashed bananas
Approx 1/4 cup chocolate chips or chocolate bar, melted

Mix first 9 ingredients together in separate bowl. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and bananas. Cream together. Add Dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Spoon approx 1 large spoon-full of dough onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for approx 12-14 minutes, or until slightly brown.
While cookies are in the oven, melt chocolate pieces in microwave (30-45seconds, or until melted). With a spoon, drizzle chocolate over cooled cookies and let harden.
Makes about 2 dozen.

Harvest Tomato and Rice Soup

I have a lot of tomatoes and my carrots are just starting to get ready for harvest. I also have a lot of sick friends during this season change. What a better way to use what I have than to make a big batch of soup! This is similar to a bisque, but I have added wild brown rice to it.

5 medium sized tomatoes, cooked and peeled
2 large carrots, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp peppercorns
1 bay leaf
dash of cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

1/2 cup Wild, brown rice medley
1 Cup water
Dash of salt

Start the rice separately.
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes until all vegetables are cooked. Place soup into blender or food processor, cover top with a towel and pulse blender until contents are smooth NOTE: Be very careful with hot liquids in blenders and food processors because they tend to explode and boy does it burn!
Place soup back on heat and let simmer for approx. 10 minutes.
When serving, scoop soup into two separate bowls and add approx. 1/4 cup rice to each bowl. Feel free to add croutons, a dollop of creme fraise or sour cream on top!
Bon appetite!