Life must go on.

Yes, life must go on.

I cannot let my life become completely enveloped by earthquake madness. I need to continue to do normal things, like sleeping, tidying up the house, and cooking fantastic healthy food that makes me feel good.

To that end, this morning I made a batch of homemade veggie stock and decided that I would use some of it to make a lovely squash soup for lunch, and the rest to restock my freezer.

(Note: Matt and I are very good at keeping a well stocked freezer full of fruit, homemade stock, homemade soups, and sauces. We lost tons of food after the earthquake related power cut that lasted 5 days.)

I didn't want to use a recipe for this soup, because I already knew exactly what flavors I had in mind, roasted squash and caramelized onions. I had this fantastic idea. I would create this amazing recipe and blog about it. So normal! So good!

I tidied up the kitchen, and it felt nice. Then I started cutting the squash. Ah, what a pleasure it was to get back to normal life! To start cooking again! To put all things earthquake behind me!

Then, we had another earthquake. A 7.2 earthquake.

I ran outside with the dogs. The puppy sat under the outside table with the most terrified puppy expression I have ever seen. Bella did her best to get in my lap. (I was standing. It was awkward.)

After the earthquake, I just sat on the ground for awhile with Bella in my lap, feeling like this would never end. After ten minutes or so of moping, I just decided to go on with my day as planned. What else can you do?

I went back inside. I noticed that the power had gone out, which means that we also had no water (electric water pump). I didn't let this get me down. I continued preparing the squash for my soon to be beautiful and healthy lunch.

Then, we had another earthquake. A 6.9 this time.

I ran outside, blah, blah, blah. Dogs flipped out, blah, blah, blah. Seriously, I was starting to get hungry now. This whole "getting back to normal life" thing wasn't working as planned and I was getting annoyed.

At this point, most people would probably just decide to have a sandwich for lunch. Or really anything that doesn't involve you standing over a stove during the impending threat of an earthquake. Even most people who would insist on forging ahead with the soup might scale it back a bit, thinking that maybe the onions don't really need to be caramelized, or maybe the squash doesn't have to be roasted first...

For better or worse, I am not most people. I was determined to continue making my soup EXACTLY as planned. This involved me standing literally right over the stove for the entire process, as in the event of another earthquake I would have had to quickly turn off the gas to the oven and run outside.

Well, that only happened once during the cooking process, but it was only a 6.0, so nothing to freak out about. Right?

In the end, the soup was totally worth it. It made me feel good, healthy, and normal... even though we had another aftershock while I was eating it (Only a 5.4! I didn't even get up from the table! Normalcy, you will be mine!!)

And without further ado, I present to you Earthquake Soup. Make it. Eat it. Continue to live your life throughout the little rumbles. Feel healthy. Feel good.


Earthquake Soup (Roasted Squash and Caramelized Onion Soup)

4 cups peeled and chopped squash (In Chile, that means zapallo. To those of you that have more than one kind of squash to choose from, it could mean butternut, acorn, pumpkin... anything orange really)
olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced into thin half circles
butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups of veggie stock
1 cup whole milk
grated parmesan cheese for serving (some creamy goat cheese or blue cheese would be better, but I didn't have any)


1. Place the squash in a large baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with saly and pepper. Stir to coat evenly. Roast the squash in a very hot oven until soft, turning occasionally so that it browns evenly. (I turned my oven up to literally the hottest that it goes. I wanted to expedite this because of, you know... the earthquake thing. It worked great!)
2. While the squash is a'roasting, saute the onions in your soup pot over low heat in a little bit of butter, salt and pepper, until they begin to turn brown and start to caramelize (about 15 minutes?). Add the garlic and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
3. Add the roasted squash to the onion mixture and stir in 2 cups of veggie stock. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from heat.
4. Blend soup with milk in a blender in two batches (or use an immersion blender). Reheat blended soup until it reaches a low simmer. Taste for seasonings. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.


Note: Aaaaand I only had to run outside three times during the writing of the blog post! For a 4.9, 5.0, and 5.0, respectfully.


Besos,
Allie