The night prior to cooking your chili cover beans with an abundance of water and leave overnight to soak. You can leave on counter with towel or lid over the bowl.
When ready to cook rinse beans well
Add beans to slow cooker
Add can of crushed tomatoes
Fill empty 28oz can with filtered water and add (3 1/2 cups)
Add 1 tablespoon of salt (a pinch less if can of tomatoes has salt)
Turn slow cooker on low and top with lid
Rinse carrots and kale
Using your food processor (or blender) blend carrots until they are finely diced
Add carrots to the slow cooker
Tear leaves of kale off stems and blend until finely chopped and add to chili
Dice onion
Add onion, bag of butternut squash, and salsa
Add 1 Tbsp of cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano and stir well to incorporate
Add remaining half tsp of salt
Stir again and make sure all the beans are completely submerged under the liquid
Cook on low for 8 hours
Serve with fritos style corn chips or over a baked potato