Make St. Patrick's Day vegan with this Irish stew recipe from the Plantiful Pantry

Hi, we’re Devon Olberding and Mariah Andrews, members of the vegan community of Eastern Iowa and business partners. We’re so committed to the plant-powered lifestyle that we started a business together to promote it — The Plantiful Pantry.

We’re two moms from Mount Vernon with six children, five pets and two husbands between us — five of which are teenagers. So, we have a LOT of beings to help stay healthy!

Devon has a passion for helping people to live their best lives through health and well being. She has been a personal trainer, fitness instructor and more recently a health coach. She knows firsthand the impact a plant-powered lifestyle can have.

Mariah has been a plant-powered home cook for three decades. After working as an advertising and marketing executive for more than 25 years, she left her career to join Devon in helping people find joy, peace and vitality through a plant-powered diet.

To us, the Plantiful lifestyle is one that is centered around fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, rather than the standard American diet of building meals around animal protein. By nourishing ourselves with plants, we learn to understand and appreciate their profound benefits to our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. When we started our business back in December of 2020, our mission was to teach people how to live the Plantiful lifestyle. We began by teaching people how to cook plant-powered recipes and also provided cooking classes, meal plans and shopping lists. Since then, we’ve evolved into providing a plant-powered prepared meal subscription service.

The service, called Meals Made With Love, offers a variety of plant-based salads, soups, world cuisine entrees, grain bowls, sandwiches and snacks. As one of the only locally owned and sourced prepared meal services in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor area, we’re able to collaborate with local farmers as much as possible to incorporate seasonal produce into our weekly recipes.

Now we are looking to reach even more people by establishing a brick and mortar location in uptown Mount Vernon slated to open in June 2023. We plan to maintain our current subscription base, while also being open to the public for breakfast and lunch options. Additionally, we will offer in-person educational opportunities and community events.

The Luck of the Irish Stew we’re sharing below is one of more than 650 original plant-powered recipes we’ve developed together since starting our business. You can learn more about us by visiting theplantifulpantry.com.

Luck of the Irish Stew

This Plantiful take on Irish stew has an incredible depth of flavors from the celery, onions and mushrooms. Potato starch gives you a rich, delicious sauce, while the lentils stand in for texture and protein.

Servings: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 stalks celery, chopped

• 1/2 yellow onion, diced

• 8 ounces baby Portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced

• 21/2 tablespoons potato starch

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 4 medium red potatoes, cut into quarter moon shapes

• 3 medium carrots, sliced

• 1/2 cup lentils

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• Add more salt and pepper to taste

Cooking instructions

1. In a medium stock pot, over medium-high heat, add celery and onions and about two tablespoons of broth. Saute until onions are just translucent. Then add mushrooms and let mushrooms fry for two minutes on each side. (You may need to add more water if they look as if they might stick).

2. Add potato starch to the mushrooms and stir vigorously until the potato starch starts to thicken and turn into a paste.

3. Add the broth a bit at a time, constantly stirring to make sure the stew is smooth and lump-free.

4. Add the lentils, salt, bay leaf and pepper and simmer for 10  minutes. Add the carrots and potatoes and continue to simmer until the potatoes and the lentils are soft but yet still firm, about 10 more minutes. Stir every few minutes so that the lentils and veggies don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Add the thyme and remove the pot from the heat.

5. The stew should be thick and creamy, but you may need to add a little broth if it gets too thick. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Send questions or comments to veganeasterniowa@gmail.com. Visit the Vegan Community of Eastern Iowa website at veganeasterniowa.org or join the group on Facebook or Meet up.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Here's a vegan Irish stew recipe for St. Patrick's Day