I am neither a raw foodist nor a vegan, but this delicious raw, vegan borscht really makes me happy. Whatever your preferred diet—I tend to be vegetarian, with a side of bacon—do yourself a favor and make it: your tastebuds and your health (and your skin) will thank you.

Between the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powers of the beets, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic—not to mention the cleansing powers of water and fiber—this soup is one tasty beauty elixir. I’ll have to check with Siobhan as to how many veggie challenge servings it would count for—but I bet it’s a lot.

I never got an exact recipe on this so I’m kind of winging the measurements—don’t worry though, you can really play around and it will still turn out.

Here’s what you need (and we always suggest organic when possible):

—1 small jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil

—3 large tomatoes

—2 beets

—2 large carrots

—3 celery stalks

—1 large leek

—2 cloves of garlic

—hot sauce of choice (harissa, sriracha*, or that asian chili garlic paste all work really well)

—1 lemon

—dill to garnish

—greek yogurt (optional)

—salt and pepper to taste

Peel the beets then chop all of these ingredients (including the sun dried tomatoes) and throw about a third of them (order not important) into the blender, adding about a cup of water or so before you start blending. Depending on the power and size of your blender you may need to continue doing this in batches, or keep adding the chopped ingredients into the blended soup. Add  water as needed to achieve your desired consistency, hot sauce to taste, the juice of your lemon as well as a few tablespoons of the olive oil left from the sundried tomatoes. If you want the soup to be super smooth, you can always use one of those handheld wands at the end to really make it velvety. Add salt and pepper and garnish with dill and yogurt (as pictured, but more dill if you like it).

And voila! Impress people at a summer dinner party or keep the soup in your fridge for a healthy snack. (It’s strangely satisfying as a breakfast side.)

*Sriracha is one of the best hot sauces going. Take a look at this list of 50 ways to use it.