Fresh watermelon salad with feta cheese

This watermelon salad is easy, fresh and super tasty. It's great for warm days, when you don't feel like turning on the oven.
It's also perfect for outdoor dining, or pic-nics!


Greek watermelon salad from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

Here's the list of ingredients:

• watermelon
• roasted pine nuts
• fresh basil
• feta cheese (or goat cheese)
• dressing: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

Enjoy!

Hash Browns, Over Easy Eggs and Sausage: Gluten-Free Breakfast!

One of the meals that can be more difficult to replace when we start a gluten-free diet is the Breakfast. We grew up having toasts and pastries, or cereals, but only when we moved to America we got to experience Sunday Brunch. What a delight!
One of our ultimate favorites: hash browns. And what better combination than over easy eggs and sausage...!


Hash Browns, Over Easy Eggs and Sausage: Gluten-Free Breakfast! from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

You won't need a recipe today, but a couple of tips:

• If you're making a big amount of potatoes, peel them and place them in a bucket with cold water until you're ready to shred them.
• It's way easier if you have a food processor...! But you can always use a manual shredder.
• Make sure you pat dry the potatoes very well. Otherwise you won't get a nice crust.
• We like making our over-easy eggs with butter. But you can always use vegetable oil if you prefer.
• When you cook the sausage, make a few holes with a fork, so they release some of the fat.

What's your favorite breakfast?

BBQ Time! Grilled veggies and skewers - step by step video

One of our favorite spots in the Bay Area is Lake Lagunitas, near Fairfax, CA. What a treat to go on a weekday and have the park almost to ourselves!
We made skewers, a classic provoleta (with a spin), grilled vegetables and even dessert. Dive in!



Barbecue day at Lake Lagunitas, CA from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

There's almost no recipe for today, but as a quick check list we are including all the ingredients we used in our Barbecue day.

Skewers:

We used chicken, steak, red and green peppers, onions and mushrooms.


Grilled Vegetables:

We used zucchinis, portobellos and corn. Straight on the grill.

Caramelized Cherry Tomatoes:

We placed cherry tomatoes on foil, added garlic and olive oil.

Provoleta:

Provoleta is a classic treat you'll find at all argentinean parrillas (BBQ!). Typically we use provolone cheese, but today we used a delicious greek cheese - halloumi cheese- that doesn't melt. We added oregano, red pepper flakes and olive oil. If you don't have a small cast iron skillet, you can just use foil.

Egg filled Peppers:

We used red and green peppers, cut them in half to form a basket and place an egg in the middle. Finish with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and straight to the grill.

BBQ Figs:

We cut figs in half, place them on foil and cover them with honey.

We grilled all together and came out ready at the same time. Good times!

Gluten Free Zucchini Pie

This very easy (and gluten free!) zucchini pie is tasty, healthy, and can make a quick lunch or dinner. It freezes very well, so you can make a big one, cut it in individual portions and save it in the freezer to take to work.
We've been making this dough for a while now and it comes out very well. It doesn't require much work, and can be easily done on a food processor if you find it faster.


Gluten-Free Zucchini Pie from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

Gluten free savory pie dough:
(these proportions will make 2 discs -you'll see that in the video we only did half, and use cheese instead of a dough top to cover it)

• 2 cups of gluten-free flour mix
• 1 teaspoon xantan ghum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• salt and pepper

Zucchini filling:

• zucchinis: depending on their size, approximately 4 to 6 zucchinis for a regular sized pie
• 1 onion or a bunch of green onions
• 1 or 2 shallots
• 2 eggs
• mozzarella cheese
• half cup Greek yogurt
• Salt and pepper

Some additional tips:

• It's better to steam the zucchinis rather than boiling them, as they tend to produce a lot of water and the dough can get soggy.
• If you can, try to take the pie out of the pan right after you take it out of the oven and place it on a wooden tray. It will prevent the dough from getting soggy and it really makes a difference! (But only try it if you have pie pans with removable bottom)
• If you want a richer pie, replace the Greek yogurt with heavy cream or cream cheese.

Delicious Guacamole recipe

What a beautiful day... to cook at the beach!
We made this easy and delicious guacamole just a few miles South of San Francisco, near Half Moon Bay.

Guacamole is the perfect snack for entertaining. Everybody loves it and it's very easy to make. Be sure to pick good avocados: they should be pretty black and slightly mushy. Stay away from green and firm avocados - they are not quite ready yet!


Delicious Guacamole Recipe from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

Here's the list of ingredients:

• avocados 
• tomatoes
• fresh cilantro
• green or white onions
• jalapeños
• lime juice
• salt & pepper

Just to give you an idea of proportions: for every 3 avocados, 1 tomato, half jalapeño, half onion or 2 or 3 green onions. It's not exact, but we find it quite nicely balanced done this way.

The key to a nice guacamole is to chop the ingredients very small (concassé). Start with the onions, follow with tomatoes and jalapeños. Mash the avocados with a fork and sprinkle with lime juice right away, so they don't get black. Finish with fresh cilantro, salt and pepper.

Now go get some tortilla chips and dig in!

Raspberry Marmalade

As we leave the summer in San Francisco, the weather gets sunnier and warmer (yes, big contradiction!) so we decided to take a few trips and use state parks and beaches as our sets.
We made this delicious and ultra-easy raspberry marmalade at Lake Lagunitas, a few miles north of San Francisco, near Fairfax. It's a beautiful hidden place, usually very quiet and great for hikes and barbecue.


Raspberry Marmalade from Julia and Julieta on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

1 box of raspberries (we just made a small amount, that should last approximately one week)
1/4 cup of raw cane sugar
A few drops of lime or lemon juice

Place the raspberries on a small casserole and mash them gently, without breaking the fruit too much - just enough for the juice to come out-. Then add the sugar, drops of lime and cook for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
If you want to save this marmalade for a long time, then weight your fruit and add the same weight of sugar. Boil your jar for a few minutes and close the top immediately after filling the jar with hot marmalade.
Otherwise, if you're going to consume it during the week, you can use less sugar and there's no need to sterilize your jar.

The same recipe works fantastic with strawberries, blueberries, peaches and other similar fruits.

Late Summer in San Francisco!

It's been so warm and sunny these days in San Francisco (very unusual!) that today we decided to take our kitchen to the beach!

We drove just a few miles south, near Half Moon Bay and found this amazing beach, with pic-nic tables. The perfect setting for outdoor cooking.

While we finish the video editing, enjoy a few pics:

Our beautiful set - just a few minutes South of Half Moon Bay, CA

Summer salad!