Rainy day after all

Rainy day, nothing much to do, and a crabby teething baby... oh my.
Dinner tonight was

Toscana soup:

INGREDIENTS

• 12 links spicy pork sausage, sliced (I used Polish Kielbasa)
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 1 1/4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chicken soup base
• 4 cups water
• 2 potatoes, halved and sliced
• 2 cups sliced kale
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Place sausage links on a baking sheet and bake 25 minutes, or until cooked through. Slice into 1/2 inch slices.
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent; add garlic and cook 1 minute.
4. Stir in broth, water and potatoes; simmer 15 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to low and add sausage, kale and cream; simmer until heated through and serve.

This soup is always better when it is cold out, but I wanted to use the Kale. I always run the potato smasher through it before I serve it so the potato chunks are so large.
I also topped tonight's dinner off with some Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. These were more like cake cookies, but very very good. We only had 2 ripe bananas to use so the banana flavor was not too overpowering. The recipe is:
Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups four
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup ripe bananas
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 400. Grease a cookie sheet. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
2. Cram butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in mashed bananas. Add flour mixture, stir until combined and add chocolate chips.
3. Bake 12-15 minutes

I only baked them for about 8-10 minutes because I like them smooshy.