Savory Beet Soup

This soup requires little effort and is packed with flavor.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup chopped onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add 4 cups vegetable broth, 2 cups water, 1/4 tsp. salt (you can make it 1/2 tsp. if you prefer), 1/4 tsp. black pepper, 3 peeled and halved medium beets, 1 medium potato (peeled and cut in half crosswise), and 1 bay leaf.

(I was a bit annoyed the original recipe didn't specify weights for the "medium" beets and potato. My beets were about 1-and-a-half inches in diameter, which I judged to be medium, and my potato weighed in at about 8 ounces. One or the other of those must have been too large, however, because I wound up with about one more serving of soup than I should have. The original recipe also didn't specify which type of potato, but I used a regular russet baking potato. I would imagine Yukon gold would work well here, too).

Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Working in 3 batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Transfer all of the pureed soup back to the saucepan. Heat over low heat for about 5 minutes, until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Ladle 1/2 cup of soup into a bowl and whisk in 8 teaspoons vegan sour cream (such as Tofutti's Better Than Sour Cream). Set aside.

Ladle 3/4 cups of the remaining soup into each of 8 bowls. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of the 'sour cream' mixture and swirl with the tip of a knife - make as pretty a design as you can if you're particularly artistic! Each serving of soup is 80 calories.

Cost:
onion $0.57
vegetable broth $3.69
beets $1.57