Salmorejo (Spanish Tomato & Bread Puree)

Went on a family trip to Spain last month and it was wonderful and unforgettable! Still missing Spain up to now. :(  We were able to taste a variety of food, some of which are very similar or exactly the same as Filipino food, such as Cochinillo (suckling pig, which we Pinoys call lechon), Callos a la Madrileña (tripe and chorizo stew), paella, among many others. One dish which made a strong impression on us was a dish from Southern Spain called Salmorejo.

We visited Cordoba (the home of the famous religious and architectural wonder, the Mezquita), and Salmorejo is a dish that originated from there. It is a puree made from fresh tomatoes, bread, garlic, and sherry vinegar, and is served cold, perfect for the summer months and during our visit in August, the hottest month in Spain. Salmorejo is topped with chopped jamon serrano and hard boiled eggs and is eaten with warm bread.

We fell in love with this dish and I've replicated it here.

My homemade Salmorejo, served with chopped hard boiled eggs and jamon serrano.

Zucchini "Pasta" with Mushrooms, Tofu & Fresh Oregano

I made this dish a month ago, after our recent family vacation in Spain. It was really great, from a historical, cultural and gastronomical standpoint. We loved the food and could immediately identify with it, as there are many common dishes between Spanish and Filipino cuisine. However, we sorely missed vegetables! Aside from the potato and occasional eggplant, there was hardly any vegetables among the food that we ate in Spain. :( Our family likes to eat healthy and after almost two weeks of a delicious but meat intensive diet, it was time to purge and go back to simple vegetables.

Thus, the weekend after we came back, we experimented with making a fully vegetarian "pasta" made from zucchini "noodles," mushrooms, cubed tofu and fresh oregano.

Passionfruit Orange Souffles

I really like desserts made from sour fruits like berries and passionfruit. Not everyone likes passionfruit because it is a bit strange. They're slimy and sour, and also "crunchy" at the same time, because of the seeds, which are edible. But the texture contrast is why I love this fruit on otherwise sweet desserts, like a pavlova or a soufflé.

This recipe is adapted from baker Paul Hollywood's Passionfruit Souffle recipe.

Detox Green Smoothie

Hello! My name is Melissa and I’m the daughter of MySuit&Apron's creator. I’m currently guest-blogging, to add a new element to Mom's blog that consists of recipes of a greater variety, from our whole family.

When I left for university in 2012, I strove to maintain a healthy lifestyle comprised not only of a strict workout regimen but healthy eating habits. Living alone for the first time enabled me to take greater control of my food decisions, which eventually led me onto a path of a predominant vegetarian lifestyle, now nearing vegan, for most of the week, aside from fancy dinners out once or twice a week.

That being said, after our family vacation to Spain last month and surviving on a diet rich in meat and bread (something my body is no longer familiar to), I decided to embark upon a green smoothie cleanse. Green smoothies have always been part of my diet. Though now, I have greater motivation to allow them to play a larger part, serving as my breakfast substitute, as something to quench both my hunger and my thirst in the mornings, during university lectures, until I manage to find some time to eat. That being said, this recipe I’m sharing today is part of a cleanse, meaning that it has some rather potent detoxifying effects, at least, for the first two days of consuming it three times a day with an accompaniment of a raw vegetable meal for lunch. The task is to not use any processed ingredients in the smoothie - no artificial sweeteners, not even honey - and if you must, liquid stevia is preferred, though opting for a banana to sweeten is a bit better, in my eyes!