Healthy Twists for Your Traditional Irish Table

If you love traditions but want to avoid the nutrition pitfalls of typical St. Patrick’s Day fare, Dr. Erin Campbell of the UR Program for Nutrition in Medicine offers some tasty, plant-based alternatives to try.

• Just stew it: Why not cook up a hearty stew with root vegetables and cabbage? Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew can be made on the stovetop or simmered in a crockpot.
• Try pie: Lentils provide a plant-based twist on Shepherd’s Pie, featuring a rustic parsnip crust.
• Break a new bread: If Irish soda bread is what you crave, whole-wheat beer bread offers a flavorful alternative.
• Change up a classic: Once an Irish staple, colcannon, which features potatoes and kale or cabbage, is easily transformed into a plant-based dish. Try Colcannon Irish Potatoes with Cabbage, which uses soy milk and nutritional yeast (that adds a cheesy flavor) in place of cream and butter.

With a little effort and some creativity, you can carry on your favorite holiday customs while staying on track with your goals for a healthy lifestyle.

Erin Campbell, MD, MPH, is a board-certified preventive medicine physician and program director for the UR Program for Nutrition in Medicine. Program offerings include an 8-week small group program, individual consultations, and a monthly Saturday lunch seminar focused on helping to prevent and treat chronic disease using a plant-based diet.