Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup?

Please don't let the picture fool you, this tastes a lot better than it looks. And it was supposed to be a soup, but ended up being quite thick, so not sure, maybe its a stew? I guess if you shortened the simmering time it wouldn't end up being quite so thick.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup onions, chopped
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
2/3 cup corn
1/2 cup flour
5 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 1/2 cups wild rice (or wild rice blend), uncooked
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp dry mustard powder
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp dry parsley
1 1/2 cups cream (I just used 1% milk cause that's what I had and it worked fine!)

Melt butter over medium heat in soup pot. Stir in the onions, celery, carrots and green pepper and saute a few minutes until tender crisp. Add mushrooms, corn and flour. Stir until well combined. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the chicken, wild rice, all the seasonings and the cream/milk. Simmer until done, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours (or less if you don't want it too thick).

*Adapted from http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2013/10/wild-rice-blend-soup.html

Peanut Butter Pretzel M&M Cookies

Intrigued? I know I was! Pretzels in a cookie? Who would have thought? But it works, so good! What an interesting salty/sweet combo. Good thing I'm taking most of these to work tomorrow, otherwise they wouldn't last long...

1/2 cup salted butter (softened at room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup M&M's
3/4 cup pretzel pieces

Cream butter and sugars together. Then add in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Fold in the M&M's and pretzel pieces. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough by teaspoonful and mold into ball and press onto ungreased (or lined) cookie sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Cookies will be very soft and may appear undone, but they will firm up as they cool. Allow to cool on wire racks.

* from http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/11/01/bite-sized-peanut-butter-pretzel-mm-cookies/