Saute ground meat until browned. Remove meat and strain out grease, leaving 2 Tbsp grease to sause onions. Saute onions over med/low heat to release the sugars in the onions, return the meat to the skillet, reheat throughly and then transfer to crock pot. Add Minestrone, Ranch Beans, Diced Tomatoes, Rotel and V-8. Let cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. You can alter the spice of the dish by selecting spicy Ranch Beans or Spicy Rotel. You can also alter the amout of sodium by selecting no sodium tomatoes. Before serving, taste and add salt and pepper as needed. We serve this soup topped with grated cheese.