Gluten Free Ravioli!

Gluten-Free Ravioli!

OK, so I've gotten a lot of requests for this recipe and seeing as it took me a bit to figure out how to make them I figured I would save you the hassle and take pictures! I broke my food processor so this batch is meat filled. I plan on experimenting with these bad boys so I'll post other fillings as time goes on! 

Here's What you need! 

Equipment:

A Rolling Pin

A Pot

A Large Knife

A Fork

3 Cups Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

3 Eggs

About 2 Cups Warm Water 

1 LB of Ground Sirloin ( I used 93 lean ground sirloin) 

1 LB Of Ground Italian Sausage (Optional)

Dash of Oregano

Dash of Sea Salt

Dash of Parsley

  

Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

If you are anything like me, you are going to make a mess with this! I placed Tinfoil down around my cutting board so that way the flour would not get all over the place. You'll see why in a minute. 

Take your flour and dump it into a mound in the middle of your cutting board / work area. 

With your fingers make a tiny opening at the top of the mound like a Volcano. 

Crack the eggs and place them in the hole you just made. 

Add a dash of Sea Salt, Oregano and Parsley

Now it gets messy! WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS FIRST PEOPLE! Take your hands and start mixing mixing the egg/flour/spice mix. 

Add warm water sparingly as needed and continue mixing. 

Knead the Dough

And the Dough is finished!

If done right your hands will look like this!

Take the dough and tear of a small clump. 

Roll the clump into a little ball 

Repeat until all of the Dough is gone.

Brown the Sausage and the Sirloin together. Add seasoning to your hearts content. I added Sea Salt, Oregano, Parsley & a touch of Tabasco for a little kick! 

Take some extra flour and sprinkle it on the cutting board so the balls don't stick. 

Take a ball and smash it on the cutting board with your hand

Take your rolling pin and thin out the smashed ball

Once flat, Cut the dough in half for a top and bottom. 

Add a dollop of Ricotta and a Dollop of The Meat Mix. 

Dip your finger into the water and wet the edges of the bottom half of the ravioli. 

Cover with other side of dough and press down. 

Take your fork and crimp the edges all the way around the ravioli. 

Take your knife and cut off excess edges.

Repeat until all the raviolis are made. 

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a rapid boil. 

Drop a few ravioli into the boiling water. At first they will sink to the bottom. 

After a few seconds they will float to the top when they are done. Wait until they completely float to the top then remove and place in a large bowl. 

Add the rest of the meat to your sauce for and extra meaty Marinara. You can use your favorite sauce for topping! 

And Bam! Ravioli!

I placed it on a bed of greens and topped it with marinara!

ENJOY!

New Year, New You!

New Year, New You. 

            Well Folks, It's been a crazy 6 month journey and honestly I can't believe I made it here without going back to my old ways. I want to thank all of you for joining me on this and following me. I cannot tell you how good it makes me feel when I run into someone I haven't seen in a while and they tell me that they have been following my process on my Facebook page.

             The new year always comes with that fresh start feeling. I feel really optimistic about 2013 and and I cannot tell you how excited I am for so many people. Babies, Weddings and grand events have already been scheduled in my calendar and I'm sure many more cool things are on the horizon. School gets back into session in 3 weeks and I'm super excited with the classes that I scored.  

              I wanted to tell you that you are awesome and a big part of my life. I could not have done this without you guys and I'm glad that I met each and everyone of you on here. I know that most of you are going through the same thing that I am. It's hard. I have every bit of faith in you that you can guys can do this. In the end we will have gone through something most people will never have to do. We will be that Andy Dufresne crawling out of that tunnel of shit to escape a prison that most of us put on ourselves. ( If you don't know what I'm talking about watch "The Shawshank Redemption". We too well come out smelling sweet.

         Here is a list of things lessons that I've learned on my journey. 

1. Only you can make the changes in your life.

2. There are always people willing to lend you a hand but nobody is going to know you need it if you don't ask

3. Fast food tastes like shit and makes you feel even worse after you eat it.

4. Cooking is fun and chicks love watching you do the dishes.

5. Posture is a hard thing to correct but you look totally different with your shoulders back.

6. Nothing beats feeling confident.

            I hope you all had a great holiday season but it's time to kick it into high gear! Best of luck and ask me anything. I'm here to listen and help.

Bagel



  

FAQ of a Chooser

FAQ of a Chooser

      It wasn't long ago that I was shoving my face with an ungodly amount of fast food, eating my way to a better place emotionally. In fact it was up until about 2 months ago that I even knew that the answer to my problem was right in front of my face, literally. The old saying "You are what you eat" has never been so true when it came to me and what I was eating was crap.

      The most asked question I haven gotten is "What are you doing to lose this weight?" and every time I gave the same answer "I've cut out processed foods and fast foods". Lately I've come to realize that this answer was really only the tip of the ice berg of what I was doing. I am changing a life style and purging my soul of a lot of self hatred and all the bad things that come when you really don't like the person you are anymore.

      I don't know when and where I started to develop these feelings towards myself or even why but I know that I wasn't happy and they only way I felt better was having a late night cheeseburger and a large coke. Sometimes I would eat before going out to dinner just in case I didn't like what we we're having.

      Every time I hit the drive thru my wallet took at least an 10 - 15 dollar hit. You can feed a family of 4 with the amount of dollar menu items I ate in one sitting.

      Basically, in a nut shell, I woke up and was tied of feeling sorry for myself. I was tired of waking up every morning feeling shitty and depressed, feeling powerless. I was tired of accepting that I could not do anything to make my life better and I would just have to wait for karma or some other force to give me all that I wanted. I refused to play the hand I was dealt so I changed the game I was playing.

     If you have found your way to me and are looking for some motivation then here it is.

You are fucking awesome. You are beautiful. You are amazing. You are strong. Nobody has the power to tell you who and how to be. You are the driver of your own life. Today is a better day to start then tomorrow. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS. 
     This is not something that is going to happen overnight. It's going to take a while but I promise that by the end you while have gone through so much that you will never go back. I'm only at my 2 month mark and I hardly remember that guy I used to be nor do I ever want to see that asshole again. He is not welcome back in my life.

     One suggestion I do strongly recommend you do in your journey is to use this page or any other page as a support group. We are all friends in health and I monitor this site everyday and will throw the ban hammer on anybody who feels the need to belittle any actions that myself or my fellow Choosers make. This is a safe place, I promise. Please feel free to post pictures, stories, advice, questions or anything else you want to! We are all Choosers!

I am a Chooser and I choose to believe in you, but mostly I choose to believe in myself!

 - Bagel

Hello, I'm Bagel.

Bagel : An Origin Story

Welp, I've done it. I started a blog to go along with the Bagels can't be choosers Facebook page.

I think this will be a better venue for me to share my in-depth, lengthy thoughts instead of clogging up the FB page.

First and formost I would like to say thank you so much to everybody who as taken on the Chooser name as a badge of pride. I love when people come up and tell me that they are a Chooser. I started the chooser page for selfish reasons but it has grown beyond myself and I now have a platform to help guide people into the better life that they deserve! I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and I am very proud of each and everyone that has joined me on this journey.

I couldn't really think of anything to start this blog with until I realized that some people do not know who I am.  So this first blog is an introduction ( an origin story if you will) of who they hell I am and why the hell you should listen to me.

My name is Ryan Beightol and I am addicted to food. I eat my emotions and have gone through hell and back to try and change this. They call me Bagel because of my last name. It's commonly pronounced "baytall" but my family pronounces it "becktoll". When I was in Junior High a teacher called out my last name for the first time and a friend of mine yelled out "Bagel?!?" and I have been Bagel ever since.

I am 28 years old and I live by the beach in huntington beach, CA. I have an awesome job at a hotel and a great apartment but I wasn't feeling good. My Body Mass Index (BMI) was well over 50 and that put me at super Obese (currently I am at 385 pounds with a BMI of 48! putting me down to "Morbid Obese").  

I hated everything that was good for me and all I eat was fast food so I started the blog as a challenge for myself to eat foods that I claimed I didn't like. What I got was the best support group anybody could ever ask for and I feel that if I let myself down I will let everyone down and ultimately cause other people to slip as well.

So in saying this, I , Ryan "Bagel" Beightol, Make a promise to all you Choosers. I will get to my goals so you have a roadway to follow. I will never let you down or let you go. we will do this together.

Keep Making the good choices, choosers!

Bagel