Lots of Love for LA, & Squash, Fennel and Chorizo Soup
Plus details on a giveaway where I’ll purchase and send you the WeNatal product of your choice!
Colorful chefs - new and old, welcome💛
This is where we cook easy, delicious, saucy, colorful meals made from whole, unprocessed foods, and we make it fun, easy, and learn important stuff about metabolic health while doing it. However, given the events of the last week, today we are just going to focus on loving and supporting each other, and making a very delicious soup.
Love for LA
I was going to start the year diving into a whole list of topics I had planned, but it’s been hard to focus on those. The most important thing to talk about right now is the fires that have ripped through LA County.
Alex and I (and Alfie) are so lucky that we are safe, and despite the ash that’s rained on our porch, garden and car - our life is seemingly the same.
Except it feels entirely different. It feels like when we came home on Sunday, we returned to a new home, to a different city. It feels different right now mostly in painful, devastating ways, but in some beautiful ways too (more on that in a second).
Many of our personal friends and acquaintances have lost everything. Most of them have children they have to figure out how to explain this to. The fires have impacted people of all socio-economic statuses and upended the worlds of people from all walks of life.
The destruction was so massive that it feels like absolutely everyone in LA knows someone that’s lost everything. Over 40,000 acres have burned - that’s nearly 3x the size of Manhattan or slightly larger than Washington DC for reference.
While the news cycle feels like it’s already turning to the next thing, and we are starting to analyze further what happened, my goal over the next year (or more) is to continue to try and find ways to support those in the LA community impacted by the fires.
By the way, if you are looking for reporting telling multiple sides of the story around the LA fires, as well as some powerful personal stories of victims, the Free Press has been doing an incredible job IMO (see both “LA was built to burn” and “Paradise Lost” for some food for thought).
Now onto some of the beauty.
On Sundays, Alex and I usually have a routine: go for a hike (our go-to is Will Rogers, which is now destroyed), go to Lake Shrine for meditation (it miraculously survived, but it’s closed right now) and then the farmers market.
So this past Sunday, we just headed to the market for a little sense of normalcy. I’ve honestly never felt more love and appreciation for LA than being around the collective grief and support of people and vendors at the market. There were new stands up taking donations, providing education about fire safety, and smiles and support present in every conversation and interaction.
The way the city has come together with love, support, donations, money and so much more is really beautiful.
My friend Felicia (coincidentally I ran into her, her husband and son in New Zealand as we both overlapped in Queenstown!) has been inspiring to follow on social media as she navigates the loss of her home. She’s started a “silver linings” highlight reel that’s both gut-wrenching and beautiful.
Thanks to so many of you who’ve reached out to check in, share your love, or ask how you can support. Now, let’s get to some of those ways!
Ways to show love to LA
If you’ve already found a cause you like, amazing! It all helps. Here are a few more ideas:
Purchase some WeNatal: Alex and I both take the WeNatal pre-natal multi-vitamin and omega-3 every day (yes, even though we are not trying to conceive right now!). You’ve probably heard me talk about it, but it’s the absolute highest quality multi-vitamin and omega-3 on the market. It’s for everyone - not just those trying to conceive or postpartum. I’ve done some consulting work for WeNatal and I am fortunate to call their co-founders, Ronit and Vida, friends. They are as real, intentional, and thoughtful as they come. Ronit tragically lost her house in the fire - read more here. One of the best ways you can support her is through considering purchasing WeNatal.
GIVEAWAY FOR A CAUSE: I’d also like to personally purchase the prenatal or omega-3 packages for five Cooking in Color subscribers.
For the first five people to make a donation of any amount to Project Angel Food LA or Holy Smokes BBQ and forward me the receipt, I’ll purchase and send you the WeNatal product of your choice!
Email me at sonja@cookingincolor.co
Donate to organizations providing high quality food to firefighters and displaced LA residents: There are two local organizations I’ve been following that are doing great work and need more support.
1. Holy Smokes BBQ: They’ve shifted their focus to providing thousands of meals for displaced individuals and first responders daily, and are raising funds through Chabad of Pierce (100% tax deductible) to make it happen. They’ve partnered with Brooke - also known as ChefBae (a great follow on IG!) to do this. Get an inside look here.
2. Project Angel Food Fire Relief: Project Angel Food delivers medically tailored meals and nutritional counseling services to 2,700 people a day, and they’ve been expanding based on needs from the LA fires. The biggest thing they need right now is donations.
Volunteer in-person or remotely: Here is a great spreadsheet with opportunities to volunteer across SoCal, as well as remotely.
Send a text + note of love to people you know living in LA - whether or not they were personally impacted by the fires, we could all use a little extra love right now. ❤️
This weekend I’m doing some homemade granola deliveries with some new granola recipe variations, and I’ll share those on the Color Club next week. Granola is my comfort food, and many of you know I make a batch every week. My OG Nut & Seed Granola has been one of my most popular breakfast/snack recipes, only rivaled by the breakfast biscuits (of which there are many variations including Rosemary, Tomato, Basil, Bacon, and PB&J).
As people get settled into rentals, I’m also planning to support people in stocking their pantries and fridges with organic, healthy foods based on their preferences. If you know someone in LA that this would benefit, please connect me with them!
Sending you lots of love, and now onto some soup.
If you’ve been impacted by the LA fires, or if you like my recipes but the price of joining the Color Club is a barrier, simply respond to this email saying “I’d like to be a Color Club member” and I’ll set you up with a free year membership, no questions asked!
^ because sometimes soup looks better in a video vs. a photo
Squash, Fennel and Chorizo Soup
With the fires, I’ve been focused on very simple, nourishing meals - and soups, lots of soups.
This soup was inspired by a Justine Doiron recipe where I learned a lovely sneaky trick to char-roast the veggies before adding them into soup to caramelize their flavors. Usually I’m a one pot soup girl, but the one pot + sheet pan for this was worth the marginal extra effort.
My miso soup trick: I also used my tried and true soup secret - adding miso to the base when you sauté the aromatics and/or herbs. It gives it a little umami flavor and a touch of salt without being too salty. I can’t even begin to tell you how flavorful this broth is — you are going to be shocked!
The butternut squash here adds a natural sweetness and velvety texture that I love, but to ensure it’s blood sugar friendly, this soup also chickpeas (for protein and fiber) and chorizo (for protein). The inclusion of bone broth enhances the soup with collagen and minerals and gives it even more flavor. In case you missed it, here is my easy weekly bone broth recipe.
Yields: 6-8 servings
Total time: 60 minutes
Get the full recipe and video here.
If you make this recipe (or ANY of my recipes!), I’d love nothing more than to hear how it turned out and any feedback you have! Give me your notes - big and small, and if you are on IG, tag me @sonjakmanning.
Also, if you heart or re-stack this post, you’ll help me reach more people!
Chefs kisses,
Sonja
