It was quite simple, really. I diced up one onion, 1 carrot, 3 cloves of garlic, tossed that in with the beans, added the ham bone, around 8 cups of chicken stock. I brought that to a boil, then turned the heat down to simmer. Here I added a Tbsp of chili powder and a tsp of black pepper Simmered for about 2 hrs. After about 1.5 hrs I took the ham bone out, let it cool a bit, then removed the meat from it, diced up the meat and back in the pot it went. Here I added a tbsp of Vegeta seasoning & a tsp of file powder to thicken it up. Let it simmer for 15 more mins and all done.
For those wondering here's a link for Vegeta;
http://www.vegeta.us.com/us/products/all-purpose-seasoning/vegeta