St. Patrick’s Day is filled with libations and festivities, and a whole lot of green. In fact, St. Patrick’s Day cookies, clothes, decorations, clover-shaped sunglasses, and plastic leprechaun hats hit store shelves immediately after Valentine’s Day. Outside of all the St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia, most people don’t indulge in old-fashioned Irish food. People usually just consider Guinness or Jameson their meal for the evening.
Traditional Irish food is notoriously hearty and dominated with meat. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of Irish meals can be just as delicious if made without meat. A lot of dishes include nutritious vegetables that can do a world of good for you overall health.
Cabbage
Cabbage is one of the most featured items in Irish cuisine. When it comes to weight loss, cabbage is a great food choice because it is extremely low in calories. There are almost 20 different flavonoids and 15 polyphenols in cabbage, all of which help fight free radicals in the body. Additionally, cabbage helps lower bad cholesterol (LDL) levels!
Potatoes
Potatoes don’t often get credit for their nutrients, but they should! They are loaded with vitamin B6, potassium, copper, vitamin C, and many other nutrients. If you are eating potatoes in the form of oily French fries or in buttery mashed form, you should not expect to reap the health benefits. Potatoes even have blood-pressure lowering compounds, but you it is best to roast or sauté them with a little olive oil for those to work.
Parsnips
Parsnips often get mistaken for white carrots, but they are not. They are root vegetables that have a slightly bitter yet sweet taste, almost like a cross between a carrot and a radish. You can eat them raw or cooked in a stew or mash. They can help decrease your risk of diabetes, reduce cholesterol levels, and improve your digestion.
Those three ingredients are the power trio in Irish cuisine, but there are many more ingredients that you can use. To enjoy a healthy, vegan St. Patrick’s Day, we have three recipes below that’ll put you in a festive mood!
Roasted Cabbage with Lemon
You may never have thought to roast cabbage, but it is a classic Irish that is low in carbs, ketogenic, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. You can vary the amount of lemon, depending on how much you like a vibrant, citrusy dish.
Click here to make the recipe.
Vegan Irish Stew
The best thing about using the crockpot is that you can just throw every ingredient in there in the morning, come home from work, and have dinner ready for you. It’s like you parented for yourself. Go you!
Click here to make the recipe.
Vegan Shamrock Smoothie
To avoid going to that unhealthy fast food place that shall remain nameless, here is a super tasty, superfood St Patrick’s Day Smoothie.
Click here to make the recipe.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
