Coarsely chop all the soup ingredients (beets, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and ginger).

Bring the vegetable stock to a boil, add all of the soup ingredients, and continue cooking at a simmer until all of the vegetables are very tender. Depending on the size of the beets, this could take from 35 to 75 minutes.

When the vegetables are tender, spoon portions of the soup into a blender, and blend until smooth. (You can also use an immersion blender to blend the soup in the pot.)

For the crème fraîche, blend the cream cheese, soy milk, and lemon juice together in a bowl until the mixture is smooth and has the consistency of sour cream.

Spoon the blended soup into bowls, and garnish each serving with a spoonful of the crème fraîche and a sprinkle of dill weed. Serve this soup hot, or refrigerate it and serve it cold.

Catherine Cunningham submitted this recipe to the All Animals Meatless Monday Recipe Contest, 2013.

Picture by Meredith Lee/The HSUS