Soup for a ski day...and some great news!

Kevin and I got some great news today...our sweet little Yorkie, Bridget, recently had surgery to remove a worrisome 'string' of tumors. We thought it was an impacted teat at first..common in Yorkies who have not been bred...but she also has not been spayed. She will be 11 years old on February 1, so this was a very bad age for her to start having some 'be-bees' near her teats.
She also had 8 teeth removed- Yorkies also have really lousy teeth in some lines, so it was a pretty major surgery for the poor girl!
She has been recovering very nicely- only had pain meds for a couple of days and didn't need the anti-inflamatory meds for more than a week...she has been back to herself the past few days, so we were pretty hopeful!
Today, she had her stitches out (and her nails trimmed) and the doctor told us that all of the tumors removed from several different locations are benign! We are so happy- usually (75% of the time) it's cancerous, so this was GREAT news!  Now, she's gonna get a haircut and a bath...

We've also been skiing a lot, which is why I have been neglecting my blog a little bit!

After buying lunch on the mountain ONCE at $30 for soup and garlic fries for two...we decided we needed to bring a lunch with us! We have been packing up a nice little lunch of whole wheat wraps, veggies, cheese sticks and fruit...oh, and since Kevin is usually the Designated Driver, I bring my sweet little Platypus for a nice glass of wine for a break or lunch. (Kevin does his apres-ski at home...it's only 25 minutes down the mountain)

We bought a nice Thermos brand ROCK to bring some soup once in a while- it hasn't been really, really, cold, yet, on the mountain, but we seriously love soup for lunch! The Rock keeps the soup HOT HOT for hours so it's really nice to bring something tasty, homemade and hot for lunch.

It looks like it's snowing up there right now, so we are hoping to go skiing tomorrow. We are bringing this soup with us!

I've posted about this before...it's my FAVORITE soup. I made an adaptation today with the type of chorizo I used.

I went to Centro Market today and bought both Spanish Chorizo and Salvadoran Chorizo

 to use in the soup. Normally I used a cooked Spanish Chorizo, but I thought it would be good to use a fresh sausage! The Salvadoran is very mild- and I usually use a pretty spicy sausage, but let me tell you, this soup turned out fantastic!

Kale and Chorizo Soup

1 lb. of chorizo, casings removed (you can also use italian sausage- spicy or mild)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. chili flakes (optional)
2 medium russet potatoes, chopped
2 cups of chopped fresh kale
1 can of drained and rinsed beans (I used cannelini beans)
1 can of diced tomatoes ( I used a 12 ounce home canned tomatoes- you can use 16 ounces)
1 quart of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stockpot, over medium heat, cook the sausage, breaking it up into smaller pieces.

Add the chili flakes (if used) onions and potatoes and stir with the sausage. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and stir. Add the kale and stir.

Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the kale is wilted. Stir and add the beans, tomatoes and chicken stock.

Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook until the potatoes are cooked through.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

YUM!
Now, we are doing the snow dance!!