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, or more
• 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, optional
• 2-3 T sherry vinegar
• Sour cream or grated Parmesan cheese for serving, optional

Directions

1. Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet, then add the ground beef. Cook it until deeply browned, using your spatula to crumble it as it cooks. If you’d like to cut down on fat, transfer the beef to a fine mesh strainer and run VERY HOT water over it.
2. Prepare the onion, celery, and garlic, using jarred crushed or pureed garlic if that’s easier. Drain the kidney beans and rinse them under cold water until the foamy bubbles are gone.
3. Add the browned beef to the slow cooker along with the onion, celery, garlic, canned tomatoes, the water from rinsing the tomato cans, beef stock, vegetable broth, kidney beans, dried parsley, and dried thyme. Cook for about 4 hours on high, or 8-9 hours on low. Taste the soup, then season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper as needed.
4. As the soup cooks, cut the cabbage into very thin pieces and chop the spinach. Once the soup has cooked for 4 hours on high, or 8-9 hours on low, stir in the cabbage and spinach. Switch the slow cooker to high if it is not already there, and continue cooking for about 1 hour more, until the cabbage is tender.
5. Mix in the sherry vinegar, beginning with 2 T and tasting before adding more. Serve hot, with sour cream or grated Parmesan cheese available to add at the table.
6. This soup freezes nicely. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, then warm it in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove.