Awesome Slow Cooker Chili

I got a slow cooker yesterday and had to make some chili to try it out. It worked great despite costing around $20. This chili tasted great. I've made it before without the slow cooker by using canned beans but I like the slow cooker version because dried beans are so much cheaper. I always use fresh tomatoes as they are much healthier than canned tomatoes and taste so much better. Tomatoes, being rather acidic, leach BPA out of the plastic lining inside the can. Fresh tastes better anyway so th BPA gives me an excuse to use them. I served this chili in big mugs with a home made bread.

Ingredients

1 cup of dried beans (I used half kidney, half black eyed peas)

5 cups of water

1 tbsp oil

1 large chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

4 chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp cumin, ground

1/4 tsp ground cayenne

salt to taste

Directions

place beans and water in slow cooker on high until beans are cooked. This took my slow cooker about 5 hours. If there is a lot of water remaining after cooking time, ladle some out (there should not be a full layer of water covering the beans). Heat oil in frying pan then add onion. Fry for about five minutes then add garlic and continue to fry until garlic is golden but not browned. Add to the slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients to cooker. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve.