Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

I love black bean soup...its packed with so many good things AND its super inexpensive! I think for a 32 oz bag of dried beans it was less than $1.50...thats cheap. One thing that I don't like about dried beans is having to soak them overnight...however, I didn't do that for this recipe and didn't need to. I threw everything into the crock pot and let it cook. My brother actually asked if there was meat in it because it was so hearty...nope no meat. This served 5 adults and cost less than $5...you can't beat that! Here's the recipe...inspired by The Frugal Chef.

Ingredients
16 oz dried black beans, rinsed
1 can Rotel
1/4 cup diced onion
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 T salt (seems like a lot but needed)
1 T pepper
8 cups water
optional: jalapeno, cheddar cheese, sour cream, tomato, avocado, and cilantro

In a cold crock pot, put all ingredients through pepper. Add water...it may seem like a lot but the beans expand and absorb water. You could use half chicken stock half water for more flavor but I was all out. Cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 7-8 hours. You can either use an immersion blender (handheld blender) or once cooled slightly put half of soup into a blender. You want to leave substance but blending half of the soup with make it thick. I highly reccommend purchasing an immersion blender!! I use it for soups...and you can find them for under $20! I topped mine with a little cheese, low fat sour cream, diced tomato, and cilantro. ENJOY!!!