Slow Cooker Spicy Ground Beef and Bean Soup with Cabbage and Spinach

Ingredients

• 2-3 tsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 2 tsp. crushed garlic
• 2 cans petite dice tomatoes with juice
• 4 cups homemade beef stock 
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 T dried parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups very thinly sliced and chopped green cabbage
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 2-3 T sherry vinegar
• sour cream or grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy frying pan and cook ground beef until it’s well-browned, breaking apart with the turner as you cook.
2. If desired, place the cooked ground beef in a fine mesh strainer and rinse with VERY HOT water to remove most of the fat.Chop the onion and celery and crush the garlic (or use crushed or pureed garlic from a jar.)
3. Rinse the kidney beans with cold water until no more foam appears.Put the ground beef, chopped onion, chopped celery, garlic, canned tomatoes and water you rinse the cans with, beef stock, vegetable broth, kidney beans, dried parsley, and dried thyme into the slow cooker and cook about 4 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low. Taste soup and add salt and fresh-ground black pepper as desired. (I added a tiny bit of each.)While soup cooks, thinly slice the cabbage and chop the spinach.
4. After soup has cooked 4 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low, add the cabbage and spinach, turn slow cooker to high if needed, and cook about 1 hour more, or until the cabbage is done.Stir in the sherry vinegar (start with 2 T and taste to see if you want to add more.)
5. Serve hot, with sour cream or grated Parmesan cheese to add at the table.This freezes well.
6. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then heat in the microwave or in a small pan on the stove.