White Bean, Kale and Sausage Soup

We just wrapped up a fantastic Christmas at our house yesterday, and I don't think it was humanly possible to have a better time, unless we won the lottery at the end of it all. As I don't always get time off around the Holidays because I work in health care, I enjoyed every sweet moment of feasting, laughing our butts off and showering my nieces with affection 
(and of course a few presents). While in a very rare form there is no snow in surrounding areas, but at our house in the snow belt there was about 4 inches left over to sled in, and my ambitious brother in law shoveled off our pond so we could ice skate. We tried a lot of new recipes, and had a gay old time. Now that the holiday is over, it's time to focus my attentions on some other things again, like cooking.  Since it's now officially winter,  its going to be soup season for a while, so here's a new favorite of mine that I've been making as often as possible the last month or so. 

White Bean, Kale and Sausage Soup

-2 cups great northern beans

- 1 pound sausage

-1 lb kale, stemmed and chopped

-1 medium white onion, diced

- 2 cloves garlic

-5 cups chicken stock

-2 T. parsley

- T. butter

Directions:  In a stock pot  saute' onion, sausage garlic in butter until cooked, about 10-15 minutes over medium heat.  Take one cup of beans and mash it with a fork or mashed potato masher. Stir into mixture. Then add chicken stock and simmer 20 minutes. Add second can of beans and kale and let sit until kale is softened, then add parsley. Serves 6.

I've made this using turkey sausage and ground pork sausage, and I prefer the ground pork variety personally, but the turkey one is great too, and  also a  lower fat version. Mashing the beans gives it a nice creamy texture and rich flavor.  A great easy meal after an afternoon of sledding and skating, or whatever winter sport you desire.(Including sitting on the couch with a blanket) And the leftovers are even better!