Borscht soup with or without meat

With it almost time to harvest the garden I thought of a fall favorite soup.
There are so many variations of this soup. vegetarian leave out the sausage add 1/4 cup more beet,carrot.


Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
6 spicy sausage links. remove from casing crumble up
3 medium beets peeled,shredded
3 carrots peeled shredded
3 potatoes peeled cubed
1 cup onion minced
1 can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1/4 head cabbage shredded
1 large can diced tomato or 1 quart homemade stew tomato
2 cloves garlic minced
salt,pepper,
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
4 cups water
sour cream,parsley for garnish

In a large skillet put oil and crumble sausage cook until no longer pink. remove from pan
add onions,garlic cook until onions are clear add tomato paste and 3/4 cup water stir well

In a large soup pot add 4 cup water salt and bring to a boil add 1 tbsp vinegar and sugar
add beets cook 10 mins
add carrots cook 5 mins
add cabbage cook 5 mins
add potatoes, onion mixture,sausage,diced tomatoes
let simmer until potatoes and cabbage is tender.
salt and pepper to taste
garnish with sour cream

I like to add baby spinach,beet greens to my soup. about a cup of each.
you can replace the sausage with pork spare ribs