Knockoff Campbell's Bean with Bacon Soup

Source: adapted from here

Ingredients:
3 cans white beans, rinsed and drained (I used 4 1/2 cups cooked Great Northern beans, which is just a titch over 2 cans-worth - it was plenty beany)
4 slices bacon (I used a nice thick cut- if you're using thinner bacon, maybe try a few more)
1-2 carrots, minced (mine were really small so I used 3)
1-2 stalks celery, minced
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 cups chicken broth (I didn't have any chicken broth - horror! - so I resorted to my chicken boullion, which I only had two teaspoons of, so then I subbed the rest with beef boullion cubes - 2 of those, all mixed up in 4 cups of water)
2 cups water
1-2 bay leaves
~1/2 teaspoon paprika (my addition, based on this other recipe for homemade Bean 'n' Bacon)
1/2 of a small can (approx 2 Tablespoons) tomato paste (I didn't - and usually don't ever - have paste on hand, so I used 4 Tablespoons of tomato sauce, which was just great)
a few drops of liquid smoke (also inspired by the other recipe)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cut the bacon into small pieces.  In the pan you plan to cook the soup in, fry the bacon until crispy.

Remove the bacon from the pot, leaving a couple tablespoons of the rendered grease behind.  Discard (or save for something else that needs tasty bacon grease to fry in) the rest of the grease.  Add the carrots, celery, and onion.  Cook over medium heat, stirring to get up all the bacon-y goodness, until the vegetables are softened, 5-7 minutes.

Add the beans, broth, water, tomato sauce (if you're using sauce instead of paste), paprika, and bay leaves. Cook over med-low heat for a good long while.  (I let it simmer for about a half hour, but the longer the better, I say).

Add bacon (my pieces were a little bigger than I wanted for my final soup, so I broke up the pieces a bit before adding them to the pot) and tomato paste (unless you used sauce) to the soup.  Cover and cook another 20 minutes or so.

Just before serving, use an immersion blender to half-puree the soup, leaving some whole beans and chunks intact.  (If you don't have an immersion blender, remove about 2-4 cups of the soup, puree in a blender till smooth, and stir back into the pot.)  Season with liquid smoke and salt and pepper to taste (it shouldn't need much; the bacon is salty, so start with a light hand) and serve, preferably with a slice of homemade bread or a grilled cheese sandwich.  If you're feeling really adventurous, you can wash it down with a cool glass of milk.

Notes:
My original plan for Thursday Soup Day fell through (I ran out of sweet potatoes!) so I was searching for something I could whip up with things I had around the house before this weekend's grocery trip.  I remembered the first Homemade Bean with Bacon recipe I made a few years ago, but when I looked at that recipe and I saw that it called for potatoes, again I was stuck. (No red potatoes in my house, either!  Did I mention it's almost grocery trip time?)  Then I got to thinking that Campbell's Bean with Bacon Soup doesn't have potatoes, so why should mine?  And I decided to do some more searching for a new recipe.  After perusing a few recipes that google helped me find, I decided on this one, and with a few tweaks mentioned above, I'd say it turned out pretty dang awesome.  I can tell you I won't be going back to that other homemade recipe; it was good, but this was SO much better.  It doesn't taste exactly like Campbell's, but it does taste delicious.  Gregg declared it one of the best soups I've made.  Ever.  So, there's that.