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vegetables:

1-1/2 C chopped yellow onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped

non-stick cooking spray
3/4 lb beef sirloin, cubed

spices:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 bay leaves

16-oz pkg white navy beans
2 8-oz cans no-salt-added tomato sauce
2 32-oz boxes low-sodium beef stock

1. Quickly brown the sirloin in a sauté pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Pick over navy beans to remove any broken beans or foreign matter. Pour them in an even layer in the bottom of a slow cooker.
3. Put the browned beef on top of the beans in the slow cooker.
4. Sprinkle the spices on top of the beef.
5. Spread the chopped vegetables on top everything else.
6. Pour the tomato sauce over the vegetables.
7. Pour the beef stock over everything. Turn the slow cooker on low and cook for 10-12 hours.
8. Remove bay leaves. Purée vegetables and beans in blender, if desired (see note).

Makes 8 servings

Note: if you don’t like veggies, leave them in larger chunks to make it easy to remove them. The cooked veggies can either be discarded, or put in a blender with 1 C of the beef stock and 1/2 C of the cooked beans, puréed and returned to the soup to thicken it.