Summertime: chilled beet soup

I'm going to take a photo of the finished product and post it, but trust me: it's a beautiful, ruby-like red as a finished product. It is so much better, pureed and chilled, than it would be as chunks and hot. Perfect starter for a summertime meal!

Chilled beet soup

Trim one bunch beets (3-4 medium beets): remove leaves (save), and trim off the bottom (root) so that you have a roundish beet left. Do not peel. Quarter and steam with: 3-4 medium carrots, cleaned and cut into one inch chunks; one medium red onion, cut into chunks; 1/4 red cabbage, cut into chunks. Steam until all veggies are soft but not mushy. Add cleaned, chopped beet leaves and steam 1-2 more minutes. Take off heat and allow to cool (may take a few hours).

When cool, pick out the beets and rub off the skins (so much easier than peeling!). They should come off very easily. Puree all veggies in a blender with water (may take 3-4 batches, depending on the size of your blender). Use only the amount of water needed to puree, so that you have a thick soup. Add batches to a bowl or other container. Add lemon juice and salt to taste (approx the juice of one lemon, and I like about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt). Stir and allow to chill in the fridge.

To serve: Ladle out about 1 cup into a bowl, and top with 1 teaspoon sour cream. You can put finely minced herbs on top: dill, chives, parsley, or whatever you wish. One cup of this is about two of those daily servings of veggies that you may have heard are so good for you. In this case, so tasty, too! Mangiamo!