Hello Carbonator - Goodbye Commercial Soda

I have an addiction. It is now under my control, but is still a battle at times. I LOVE SODA. What could be better then that first hit of cold soda in the morning? How it tingles, almost stings, the back of your throat and bubbles on its way down. I am almost salivating describing it. I think we all know it is bad for you. I justified my addiction by drinking "Diet" saying at least it was calorie free. I was failing to ignore the 10,000 other completely unnatural substances that make soda. I also tried to ignore the fact that when i wouldn't have a soda by at least 3pm  would have a mind numbing headache. Finally, watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and several other documentaries about how the farther we go from natural foods the more we see immune mediated diseases I had to face the music and let the soda go.  Honestly, it's really a "duh" moment when it happens to you. After a bit of research though I learned that I didn't have to let go of the bubbly factor....Say Hello to the Homemade Carbonator.!!

I read a great "how to" here: http://www.truetex.com/carbonation.htm

My set-Up:
My tank, regulator, hose, ball keg valve, and carbonator cap came from The Beverage Factory.

I have a 20lb tank. It costs me around $15 to have it filled an a local firehouse supply store that fills fire extinguishers. This 20 pound will likely last me well over a year and that's if I charged a liter every day. You need a carbonator cap for every bottle you want to carbonate. I use recycled 1 and 2 liter plastic soda bottles.

What do I carbonate???

Water with or without Fresh Squeezed Lemon Or Lime
Homemade rootbeer using rootbeer extract and stevia
Homemade Ginger ale -boiled ginger root and sweetened with stevia herbs
Fruit Juices - especially our homemade, no added sugar Grape Juices
Wine - our homemade fruit wines- makes a new twist on Champagne
Ummm you can also carbonate hard alcohols like vodka

Black Bean Chocolate Sauce

Black Bean Chocolate Sauce

The other day we were making fajitas. The meat was venison Todd had harvested, the onions and green peppers were frozen from the garden, the taco sauce was home canned, and since we didn't have any refried beans I grabbed a jar of home canned black beans. I was rinsing the beans in the sink and wondered if I could just blend up the black beans as a sort of mock refried beans. I figured the worse that could happen is I would turn them into black bean brownies if nobody liked it. As it turns out, pureed black beans make an excellent substitute for refried beans on fajitas or fajitas salads. There was about 3/4 of a jar of beans left after the meal. After staring at them for a bit, I thought it looked a bit like pudding. Then, a light bulb moment. Why couldn't it be pudding??
So I whipped out some chocolate powder and the stevia and began experimenting.  Well it turned out delicious. I gave it to the kids with some sliced apples that night. They ate it all. The next day I think it tasted even better. The chocolate mellowed into the beans more and was a deeper chocolate color.
The next day the kids ate it on toast and loved it.  What a great way and natural way to help my 6 year old with her constipation issues!

15 oz Can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup of Milk or Almond Milk (can substitute some of this with Heavy Cream for richer flavor, but adds calories, but less carbs depending on your eating style)
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
Stevia - powder or drops will work. The measurement is really to personal taste. This particular batch did have 1/3 cup of powder.  I normally prefer the drops as they to have better flavor, but didn't have enough.

Blend until smooth in a standard blender or with an immersion blender. I used the ole regular mason jar with the blender bottom attached to it trick so I didn't have to dirty another dish. Tastes best if you refrigerate it for several hours before serving.

Eat it straight up as a pudding, dip fruit in it, or slather on whole wheat toast.