Vegan Black Bean Soup

We have shelter! Now everyone can come visit. We move in this Saturday but we won't fully be living in the apartment until later this month. The kitchen floor is being converted from carpet (ew) to hardwood floors or tile. My sister is in town from California so we're spending time with her aka she is free labor to help me move in.
I made this soup for dinner last night. It's so versatile. I just threw whatever veggies we had in the fridge and it came together nicely. The inspiration for this soup came from a vegan restaurant we ate at over the weekend plus a recipe from allrecipes.com. It was served with a green strawberry salsa. So, so delicious. Strawberry season is only days away so I'm looking forward to some strawberry picking!
This soup is not so photogenic.

Soup Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion
4 stalks celery
3 carrots
5 cloves garlic
2 red bell peppers
2 jalapeños
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 lb dried black beans
1-28 oz can diced tomatoes
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Garnishes:

Fresh cilantro
Spicy salsa
Sour cream
Tortilla chips
Avocado
Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Soak the black beans in double the amount of water overnight.
Dice all the veggies and mince the garlic. At this point, you can throw everything into the crock pot...which I couldn't do since mine is in Pittsburgh! I would imagine the soup would take all day to cook, maybe with some extra water added in.
Anyways, if you're doing this over the stove, rinse and drain the soaked beans. Add to a large pot with plenty of water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about an hour. This may take some more time depending on how old the beans are. Keep the cooking liquid when straining the beans after they are cooked!
In a separate soup pot, sauté the onions, celery, and carrot over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the spices and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the vegetable stock, half the black beans, and half the can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Take the other half of the black beans and tomatoes and blend. Add about a cup of the cooking liquid from the beans to thin out. Add to the soup and simmer for about 20 minutes more until all the vegetables are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!