Receipe Review: The Best Broccoli of Your Life.

So this recipe I found on the Amateur Gourmet for Roasted Broccoli claims to be the "Best Broccoli of Your Life."  Yeah, it was pretty damn good.  It is simple and fast too.  Just cut up some broccoli, toss with a little olive oil and coarse salt and throw on some sliced garlic.  It cooks in about 20 minutes.  There are some optional ingredients (like cheese), most of which I left out of mine.

Very good? Yes.  Was it the best broccoli of my life?  I am not sure about that.  Maybe if I added cheese...

Get the full directions here.

Recipe: Skinny Minnie Strawberry Sorbet

So, as you may know, I have been on a little bit of a diet lately.  Today is my first day of maintenance,and altogether I think the diet has been really successful.  As of today, I have lost 17.5 pounds in just under a month.  I am not totally in the clear though.  I still have 3 weeks of maintenance with no carbs or sugar (though most fruit is allowed- hooray!) to make sure that I stabilize at this weight (+/- 2 pounds).

But anyways, back to the point of this post.  Maintenance means I can start adding back in a wider variety of food.*  Which means fun, skinny minnie recipes, like this super easy and delicious strawberry sorbet.**  Easy is an understatement - it   doesn't even begin to describe how easy this is.  

Ingredients:

7 medium strawberries
1/2 lemon
2-3 drops of Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia***

Directions:

1. Remove stem from strawberries (duh), and cut in quarters (not really necessary, but it speeds things up).

2. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lemon directly into knock off magic bullet blender (watch out for seeds!)

3. Add Strawberries and Stevia to taste

4. Blend

5. Freeze

Because this makes a perfect single serving portion, it freezes super fast (yay for Ziploc mini containers, this one was the perfect size!).  Mine set to the perfect amount of freeziness while I took a long bath.  The end  product was just the perfect amount of sweet and tart.  I can't wait to try it with other seasonal fruits.

*Note:  This recipe is actually allowed in Phase 2 and Phase 3 (Maintenance) of the diet.

**Note: Fat is allowed in moderation during maintenance, so some of my recipes will have fat, just not carbs or added sugar.

***Per the HCG diet, liquid stevia is the only sweetener allowed.  If you are not following the HCG diet, you can throw in a little splenda, or if you are feeling really crazy, a little bit of real sugar.