Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli

I'll confess that usually when I serve broccoli it looks like this:  

Picture credit:  Family Fun Magazine

Oh, wait, it might also be served with a swimming pool full of ranch dressing.  You see, I grew up in the time of boiling veggies.  Most of the broccoli that I consumed (gagged down) as a child looked like sad little trees that faired poorly after a category 4 hurricane - limp and lifeless.  So to tempt my kids with broccoli, I give them some "dip-dip".  I'm working some healthier dipping options, but for now, also working on ways to eliminate the dipping all together.

I had read many years ago that cooking vegetables destroys the nutrients and I should aim to consume as many raw foods as possible.  I whole-heartedly agree with this and teach my kids that we should aim to eat at pure as Adam and Eve did (minus the whole serpent/forbidden fruit thing).  However, sometimes my gut needs a break from the raw veggies.  This recipe contains garlic and broccoli two foods commonly known to fight cancer.  Sadly, these cancer-fighting enzymes are significantly decreased, if not completely destroyed, by the cooking process.  On the other hand, cooking can increase the ease of digestibility and increase the bio-availability of some nutrients.  So my conclusion would be that it is a great idea to shake it up some...cooked broccoli is better than no broccoli....but don't forget to keep greater than 50% of your diet raw.

I saw a recipe on Pintrest for the "best broccoli you'll ever eat", or something like that.  After reading through the recipe, I took some things out and came up with this....

Ingredients:
* Organic Broccoli - 2 heads for my family of 5
* 3 Garlic Cloves (I also buy organic garlic) - crushed
* 1/2 Lemon (yep, you guessed it, we're going to be zesting, so this must be organic)
* Drizzle of EVOO
* Salt and Pepper

1.  Clean the broccoli well, chop and leave out on a clean dish towel to dry.  The broccoli must be dry, it is so much better that way.

2.  Arrange broccoli on baking sheet and drizzle EVOO and salt and pepper.  Toss it all together.

3.  Add the chopped, crushed garlic to the mix and toss with the broccoli mixture.

4.  Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.

5.  As soon as you take the baking dish out of the oven, move all the broccoli over to a serving dish.  Add on top some zest from the lemon, and a good squeeze from the lemon.  Toss it all together and serve.

Yum.  Everyone liked this.  I served it with some grilled chicken and mashed potatoes.