Super tasty flower sprout heads for our Christmas meals!

One of my readers recently asked me about Christmas vegetables. She wanted to know more about what I serve from the garden at this magical time of year:

Alexandra: Hello Sara! It seems like you, even though you don't follow a strictly plant-based diet, eat a lot more vegetables than most people. What do you cook at this time of the year? I can imagine that you make some non-traditional dishes.

Read more: Homemade Swedish mulled wine

Tradition comes first

Christmas food is all about traditions. I grew up on an island and my mother owned a small fish market, so fish is naturally a given on our table. Especially pickled herring and salmon. Yum! But we didn't have a lot of vegetables though.

It's a different story here at home of course. We decided to focus on our kid's favorite vegetables this year though so that we don't overdo it. This year, we focus on cabbage. Red cabbage, kale, Brussel's sprout and flower sprouts (I'm going to write more about this cabbage soon!) I'm also making a nice fresh salad with lamb's lettuce, spinach, purslane and other green leaves with orange slices.

Flower sprouts and Brussel's sprouts are growing outside this time of year, while the other vegetables come from the polytunnel.

You can use the beautiful little flower sprout heads just like Brussel's sprouts or kale.

Some flower sprouts that haven't grown fully have lovely purple leaves that taste great in salads.

Celebrating at home

Celebrating at home is the best. Just us and the kids. We want to make it as relaxed as possible. Everyone can wear Santa costumes, stay outside and play and eat plenty of sweets. We always plan a nice traditional Christmas eve walk around the block with the dog too. I just love focusing on us this day, no stress or expectations. We just enjoy staying at home together. Preferably with a table full of delicious Christmas vegetables of course!

Since it's just us, me and my husband are the only ones cooking. That's why it's so important to keep it as simple as possible. All of the food is of course homemade, and the vegetables (except for some of our sandwich vegetables) come from the kitchen garden.

I'm looking forward to experimenting a bit more in a few years though. But for now, I'm happy. We have a gingerbread house and just the right amount of candy!

Learn more: My harvest calendar

Homemade pork rinds

Last but not least, I wanted to give you a quick cooking tip. Ham is a common dish this time of the year in Sweden. Why not take the opportunity to make homemade pork rinds? Simply remove the rind from the ham and cut it into smaller pieces. Put it on an oven tray with a baking paper and add salt. Add a baking paper on top of the rinds too. Put the tray in the oven and grill at 300 degrees (200 degrees Celsius). So good!
/Sara Bäckmo