What’s a slider?  It’s a mini burger.  Bigger than a bite.  Smaller than a… full-size burger.

Like so many recipes, you can make this with 1,001 variations, depending on your mood or what you have in your garden or refrigerator.  You can serve these as is, topped with green pesto, pickled red onions, avocado or mango, or with fresh lettuce, sun-dried tomato, and tartar sauce as pictured here.  You can use mayo on a bun or drizzle your slider sans bun with extra virgin olive oil.  Of course, use organic ingredients because there’s nothing that says pesticides make us healthier, is there?!?

Makes 8 sliders or 16 minis

2 C cooked beans (black, pinto, black-eyed peas, etc.)	1 C cooked brown rice
1/2 C chopped cilantro, basil and/or parsley	1/2 C shredded carrots, beets, or yams*
1/2 shredded zucchini	1 Tbsp psyllium husk powder
2-4 cloves garlic	2 Tbsp grated ginger*
1 tsp Berbere North African spice powder	2 tsp good salt
sprouted whole grain or gluten-free dinner rolls (2018: our favorite brands is Angelic Bakehouse)	coconut oil, ghee, or extra virgin olive oil for sauteeing.  Feel free to try sesame oil for more flavor…
Top with: mayo, pickle, pesto, sliced red onion, roast red pepper,  lettuce, tomato achaar, mustard, cheddar, caper aoili, sriracha…!

In a food processor using the steel blade, pulse beans and garlic until mixture looks like hamburger.  Pulse in rice and fresh herbs (I like to use a combination of all three when they’re in my garden – but you can use ½ C of any one of these if you prefer).  Spoon mixture into a bowl.  Change blade to shredding disk and grate the vegetables.  Stir veggies into the bean and rice mixture together with ginger and Berbere seasoning.  Add salt and psyllium husk powder (psyllium helps hold the sliders together).  Form them into eight 3”round patties (scant ½ C each) or 16 mini bite-burger-sliders (I’ve served the miniature sliders on Angelic Bakehouse tiny dinner rolls we sell from our bread freezer – they’re made with sprouted organic grain mash).

In a large skillet, gently warm coconut, ghee or olive oil.  Sauté patties on low 5 minutes per side.

Note:  Save time and add extra nutrients to your diet by not peeling vegetables such as carrots, beets or yams (or ginger).  Use a microplane to grate ginger.  Yep, we have the Ethiopian spice blend, Berbere, in our spice bin.