Excellence is, in fact, a relationship. There is only One is truly and perfectly excellent. He alone is the sum and definition of what excellence is and does. So the one who is excellence, in His grace, came to you when you were in a state of anything but excellence, and by grace offered you the promise of actually becoming a partaker of His divine nature. He then connects you to purposes and goals way higher, way grander and more glorious than you would every have sought for yourself... Your hope of ever being excellent in His eyes and doing what is excellent in His sight is found in your relationship to Him and in His grace that not only forgives and accepts but radically transforms. And He calls and empowers you to display His excellency and the excellency of His grace. It is only this excellency that has the power to free us from the false excellency of human pride and the mediocrity that results when we are okay with ourselves and our world just the way they are.

Paul David Tripp

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Vegetables, Grains, Meats	Dutch		1	Servings

INGREDIENTS

2	lg	Onions (about 2 cups), diced
4		Cloves garlic, minced
2	tb	Vegetable oil (I use chile oil or olive oil)
1	lb	Dried black beans, picked over
4	c	Fully cooked ham, 1/2" cubes
8	c	Chicken broth
2	tb	Ground red chiles, or to taste
2	tb	Fresh cilantro, snipped fine
1	tb	Oregano, preferably Mexican
2	ts	Ground cumin (may be toasted)
1	cn	(about 28 oz) whole tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2	tb	Liquid Smoke
1/2	c	Diced cayenne chiles
4	oz	Can green chiles w/juice, mild variety
1	tb	Adobo powder

INSTRUCTIONS

Saute' onion and garlic in oil in a 4 quart Dutch oven until onion is clear
and tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Boil for
about 2 minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and simmer until
beans are tender, about 2-1/2 hours.
Pour 1/4 of the soup into a food processor/blender fitted with steel blades
and process until chunky, not a smooth paste.  Repeat with remaining soup.
Makes about 10, 1-1/2 cup servings.
A friend pointed out to me one day that if you remove the ham and
substitute bouillon cubes for the chicken broth, that the resulting soup
would be vegetarian.  I felt that the loss of the ham would too greatly
alter the taste, but I have come upon an alternative.  I have not tried
this but it might work.  Goya markets packets of ham seasoning, similar to
bouillon cubes only powder in a packet.  It might be worth a try if you are
intent on going 'meatless', but I have no idea how much to use.  You are on
your own.
BTW, Goya also markets the adobo powder used in this recipe, although it is
the ingredient I would most likely pick to leave out and not alter the
taste of the soup.
Posted to CHILE-HEADS DIGEST V3 #152
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 12:50:34 -0600
From: "Goslowsky, George" <gjgoslow@ingr.com>

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