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Being that Irish food is heavily based on potatoes and bread, it's not the best holiday to try and remain low carb. We have adjusted a few recipes for you to help keep it a healthy, happy, and low carb St. Patrick's Day this year.
Green Beer
St Patrick's Day is just around the corner, which usually brings lots of green beer drinking, but if you are trying to lose weight, you may want to limit the number of beers you drink. Try opting for a light beer, which only has about 5 carbs per beer and 105 calories.Not only is alcohol dehydrating, it lowers your inhibitions to make good food choices, but you may also find that the body--in effort to metabolize large amounts of alcohol--will start to crave high carb foods, like Bangers & Mash or Fish & Chips.Maybe you already planned on skipping the beer, and simply want to cook a festive meal without overdoing the carbs.
Corned Beef & Cabbage
Although you will not find many people consuming Corned Beef & Cabbage in Ireland on St Paddy's Day, the history behind this dish is more tied to the history of the Irish immigrants in America.First generation Irish-Americans were in search of the comforting tastes of their homeland and on St. Paddy's Day that meant boiled bacon. However, the immigrants were too poor to afford the high price of pork and bacon products.Instead, they turned to the cheapest cut of meat available: beef brisket. The corned beef was paired with cabbage, as it was one of the cheapest vegetables available to the Irish immigrants.This dish is simple to modify to reduce the amount of carbs. Corned beef has zero carbs, and the cabbage, celery, carrots, and onions each contain less than 5 grams per cup.The only two ingredients you will want to remove or replace is the potato and the pale ale. Cauliflower is a great replacement for the potato in this dish, as it will not change the flavor, while still giving the meal heartiness.Selecting a light beer over the pale ale for this recipe will help reduce the calories and carbs, but the dish will probably taste just as great without adding it at all.
Irish Seafoam Salad
Looking for something a little sweet? Try this wonderful tasting dessert that includes crushed pineapple, lime Jell-O, cream cheese and cool whip!This dessert is only made Irish by the green tint it displays that suggests a link to the Emerald Isle. This very simple recipe has only 4 components, making it a breeze to reduce the carbs and calories.While picking up the ingredients, opt for fat-free cool whip, low-fat cream cheese, and sugar-free lime Jell-O. Increase the sweetness to taste by adding Splenda, or another artificial sweetener of your choice.
