Slow Cooker Thursday -- Savory Bean Spinach Soup

I originally received this recipe through one of my Yahoo groups and passed it on to a friend ... thinking it was more HER thing.

Well, she made it quite a few times and had me try it. It's really good! We have made some modifications -- but I will include a link at the bottom to the "original" and put a star next to the ingredient that she changed and is preferred.

Ingredients
3 14-ounce cans vegetable broth (chicken is good too)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes *
1 15-ounce can white or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained (use 2 cans)
1/2 cup converted rice **
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bag frozen chopped spinach *
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
1. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker combine broth, tomato puree, beans, rice, onion, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper.
2. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 7 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours.
3. Stir spinach into soup. Serve with Parmesan cheese. Makes 6 main-dish servings.

Not too many changes, but use frozen spinach instead of fresh. And use converted or brown -- rice -- regular makes it too mushy. Yummy!

Original recipe.