Bean, ham and spinach slow-cooker soup

I’m always in the market for slow cooker recipes that take at least 10 hours to make, so they can be coasting on the warm cycle when I get home without any harm. So few recipes seem to fall into that time category, so I jumped on this one, especially since it called for ham, and I had a bunch leftover after a family gathering.

Slow-cooker smoky navy bean soup

Adapted from Family Circle. Note that this recipe needs attention the night before, and just a slight amount of prep work at the very end of the cooking time.

Ingredients

1 pound navy beans

2 cups chopped ham

1 large onion, chopped

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

3 carrots peeled, thinly sliced

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used the kind with onions added, since that’s what I could find, the original called for ones with peppers)

½ teaspoon dried thyme

6 cups water

1 teaspoon salt (optional)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

5 ounces baby spinach

Method

Soak beans in water overnight. Drain, and add to slow-cooker insert. Stir in water, ham, onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes and thyme. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

Remove 2 cups of the soup to a food processor or blender. Puree and return to soup. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. (The ham brings a lot of saltiness to the party, so you might not need all that’s called for.) Stir in spinach, cover and cook about 5 more minutes until wilted.

Rating: As a child I really liked that bean with bacon soup that came out of a condensed can. This is kind of like a slightly more grown-up, possibly more healthful version. It’s still got that same smoky flavor and the thickness, thanks to the pureed part. It’s  certainly a hearty weeknight alternative. The recipe claims it serves 8; I’d say 6.

Make ahead: I soaked the beans overnight one night, drained them the next morning and stored them in the refrigerator. Then I assembled all the ingredients in the slow-cooker insert the night before to further simplify morning getaway. And like most bean soups, it stores and reheats just fine, so you can make the entire meal ahead and reheat it if you like.