Cheesy Beef Sliders

Juicy cheeseburgers are the perfect quick dinner and sliders are even faster. Perfect kid food. Perfect weekend sit around the tv cheering on some basketball playoff games. Perfect hurry home from school and sports practice, do your homework and off to church or other weeknight activities and not be late. 

These little cheesy beefy gems are also healthy. You know how I am always trying to make things a bit healthier.... these are packed with nutrients. AND even better the "healthiness" is impossible to detect. This scores high with me and the somewhat picky little smiles in my house. 

This recipe comes from the book the sneaky chef to the rescue. It rightfully boasts that it contains 101 recipes and sneaky tricks for creating healthy meals that kids will love. So far I have tried 2 recipes and both times my oldest CLEARED his plate, AND both times he was eating a vegetable I know he hates with a passion - but had no clue. Seriously amazing. So until his taste buds mature a little bit because truthfully some veggies are unfortunately an acquired taste and have a bitter edge for kids' sweeter taste buds... this little trick will be up my sleeve. This author knows her stuff... here is my adaption of her slider recipe: 

 Cheesy Beef Sliders

Makes at least 12 slider burgers 

Ingredients

1/2 cup of green puree (see recipe below)

1 Tb ketchup

1/4 cup of wheat germ

 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional - I put it in everything)  
1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1 lb lean ground beef 

12 soft whole wheat dinner rolls

your favorite cheese, sliced - only need 1/2 slice per slider

optional garnishes - lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, mustard, mayo, avocado, more ketchup, ect...

Directions (the easy part): 

1. Mix the first 6 things together in a large bowl. 

2. Grab a large plate and start forming the 12 patties as you can see I didn't grab a large enough plate lol. 

3. Pan fry with a little non cooking spray or olive oil the burgers or grill them inside or outside for about 2-3 minutes each side over medium heat. They are small. I did them inside in a pan and was able to do 5 or 6 at a time. 

4. While the sliders are cooking cut your cheese, slice the garnishes and heat the dinner rolls

5. Serve warm topped with the cheese. Goes really well with watermelon, crunchy veggies and dip, or even a frozen vegetable heated on the stove since no one will be able to tell that there are veggies in their burgers. 

The green puree

So the magic of this burger is the healthy green puree that you are thoroughly mixing into the meat. This is a green 3 vegetable mixture that you are blending together until its so super smooth. The brilliant thing about this, is that if you do have picky kiddos like me, you can make this puree ahead of time. It keeps really well in the fridge and the freezer. Thus you can make sure they don't see you, using the vegetables they think they don't like. See that. Think of these kids and perhaps husbands as overthinking it. We eat with our minds and our eyes first its a survival thing... but in this case its a disservice to getting some cancer fighting, cold butt kicking, energy delivering nutrients that they need to fuel their daily activities. Its good for you too. Us moms need a bit of help from our food too. Trust me if I could live on just coffee I would but yeah it hasn't worked yet. 

So try this:

Steam 2 cups fresh broccoli until tender takes about 10 minutes. In the last 2 minutes add in 1 cup of peas. 

Add the broccoli and peas to a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes. Add 2-3 Tbs of water and 2 cups of fresh baby spinach. Blend on high. Occasionally stop and stir if needed and if necessary use 1-2 Tbs of water.

My Notes:

I used leftover broccoli from the night before to save time. I just planned it that way. Since leftovers are given the evil eye and not one of my kids or husband enjoys leftover veggies it was brilliant. I used regular spinach because thats what I had in my fridge. Whatever you have totally works. I used 2 cups of peas instead of 1. The amount of water is an estimation. Start with 3 Tbs of water in your blender with the veggies and add 1-2 Tbs at a time until your blender has gotten it so smooth there are no chunks at all. Should be absolutely smooth. This puree felt much easier to make than I thought it would be. I have used it for 2 meals so far and figure I can get 2 more out of it. Nice. 

Whole Wheat Chicken Parm Sliders

It's faster than a speeding bullet takeout. 

It's faster than a plane pizza delivery guy. 

It's super fast chicken parmesan sliders on whole wheat rolls.  

Slightly messy, super cheesy, crunchy tasty chicken, delicious bites that are perfect for eating before running out the door to a game, practice, church, or football game. Trust me. You'll wonder how you ever lived without them. 

We watch a lot of super heroes in my house full of boys. Seriously though this super kiddo friendly and wallet friendly dish, might be my new super hero "go to easy fall dinner". 

Speaking of super.... What do you get if you cross the man of steel with a hot broth?

Souperman.

I thought it was funny..... food blog... soup-er :) 

Okay I am nerd. I don't mind. 

The timing of finding this idea is so perfect. We have a super busy fall ahead of us. Soccer. 2 college classes. Piano lessons for everyone. Bass lessons. Orchestra. Working full time. Two busy kids. Physical therapy. Speech therapy. Teaching my first women's bible study (ahhh!). Yeah. Just thinking about this list makes me want go hide under the bed and go back to bed. But its going to be okay. I might be drinking a ton more coffee this fall lol especially ugh with those early saturday morning practices and games, but at least I have recipes like this that literally fall out of the freezer and onto plates. The first time I made this, my oldest ate double what he usually does, and asked me when I was going to make it again. Super hero mom to the rescue.... feeding the kids without breaking a sweat. Lol Okay okay. No more super jokes. Besides not breaking a sweat in August in Southern Az might be impossible. 

Warning: This recipe is unlike majority of what I have on my blog. It uses a bunch of short cuts that aren't exactly healthy but in my mind this is better than a drive through and tastes amazing so yeah. The only thing thats not store bought is the sauce and its because I had leftover pasta sauce in the freezer ready to go. Its been that kind of week. 

Whole Wheat Chicken Parm Sliders

Makes 2- 12 sliders adjust ingredients accordingly to whatever you need

Most people and hungry kids would eat 2 each

Ingredient list: 
1 package of store bought of 12 whole wheat dinner rolls
Sliced provolone cheese - 1 slice per slider
Breaded fully cooked chicken strips 
Pasta sauce - You'll need about 1-2 Tbs per slider (see tips below)

Pasta Sauce Tips: 
1. This recipe only uses a couple spoonfuls of pasta sauce so if you are just opening a jar for this recipe. Freeze the rest. It freezes beautifully in a freezer container or plastic freezer bag and you'll have it to use in many places like on top of pasta, as sauce on a pizza, as a dipping sauce for cheesy Italian bread/bread sticks, on top of a Italian pepperoni burger (Yum!), ect.  

2. Or next time you make spaghetti double the sauce and freeze it. Don't use store bought sauce unless you're in a pinch. It only takes a few ingredients and 15 minutes. See my base recipe below - I say base because i am always changing it slightly based on what I have. 

Super easy 15 min pasta sauce: pour into a blender 2 cans of tomato sauce, 1 can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, and some italian seasonings - right now I am on an oregano kick so I put 2 heaping tablespoons of that in. Use what you have. Use what you know tastes good. On the stove I sauted a few veg that I already had in my fridge (zucchini, onion, and 1 clove of garlic) in some olive oil and then added that to the blender. Last pour the mostly pureed sauce back into the pan to heat up to use immediately or put in covered containers in the fridge to use over the next 2-3 days or in the freezer. It keeps for a long time. If you like garlic add more. If you have some squash throw that in. If you have eggplant saute that up. Lots of great veggies and nutrition can be added and hidden this way. If you like the taste of red wine pour a cup of that in... super flexible. super yummy. Great way to introduce new veggies to your kids. 

What does a super hero put in his drink?

Just ice.

Lol. Funny? Okay mabye. 

Assembling the sliders: 

1. Cook the chicken strips in the oven as indicated on the package. 
2. Gently slice open the whole wheat dinner rolls
3. After the chicken is cooked cut them in half depending on how large the chicken is. I cut a couple of them in half and put the halves on my kiddos sliders so nothing would be sticking out. Small hands need smaller portions :) 
4. Layer the chicken on the bottom of the roll, then the sauce, and the cheese on top. Put the top of the roll on and let it sit and melt the cheese a little bit. 
5. Eat and enjoy :) 


Super easy 
Super yummy
Thanks for stopping by! 

Stephanie