Cold Beet Borscht Recipe- Chilled Beet Soup- Vegan and Refined Sugar Free Options

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I was serving borscht to my family for dinner. A friend of mine wanted photographic proof of my husband and kids eating it because she said that there is no way on earth they would actually be eating borscht.
That was a funny statement, because, it happens to be that cold beet borscht is one of my kids' favorite foods, and one of my husband's favorite chilled soups.
My family is of eastern European descent, and borscht is one of our traditional foods in my culture, but we never, ever had beet borscht growing up because my dad hates beets with a passion. (He used to call eating beets "getting beet poisoning".) Meanwhile, though my mom and all my siblings loved beets, borscht was one thing that mom didn't make- she didn't do "traditional foods" very much.
So I never had borscht until I was looking into traditional foods from various cultures around the world. An elderly Russian lady that I met in the grocery store gave me her basic recipe for borscht, which I then tweaked to suit my tastes and dietary needs.
Borscht can be either hot or cold, but this is a recipe for cold borscht. (Hot borscht is not just warming this up.)
Beet borscht is a delightful chilled soup for summer.
I make mine refined sugar free and vegan, but you can make yours not vegan or with white sugar if you don't care.

Cold Beet Borscht Recipe- Chilled Beet Soup- Vegan and Refined Sugar Free Options

Ingredients:
2 large beets, or 1 1/2 cups grated cooked beets
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup and 3 tablespoons lemon juice (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup honey (or sugar or agave nectar- adjust to taste)
1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup fresh dill
2 cucumbers
3 potatoes
3-4 hard boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions:
1. Scrub beets, submerge whole in water, and boil until soft. Pour off the water.

2. Peel beets, and grate, saving the juice that exudes from the beets when grated.

3. Boil potatoes until soft.

4. Mix the honey with the 4 1/2 cups of water until it is all dissolved.

5. Add the lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and chopped dill.

6. Thinly slice or dice the cucumbers.

7. Dice potatoes.

8. Add to the mixture.

9. Grate hard boiled eggs and mix in.

10. Chill thoroughly, and then adjust seasonings once chilled.

Enjoy!

Are you fans of beets? Will your kids eat beets? If you eat beets, would you eat borscht? Why or why not? What about your kids? If you make borscht, what do you put in yours?
Does this look like a recipe you'd try?
What is your favorite beet recipe? What is your favorite chilled soup recipe?