Opa! It's Greek Night!

So if you don't know, I live in a very secluded area of the Gulf Coast. To give you an idea, the nearest Wal-Mart is an hour away, so needless to say a Greek restaurant is NOWHERE to be found. So when I had a craving for tzatziki sauce, I couldn't run down to the local Greek restaurant in town. I decided instead to hit up the local supermarket and try and make it for myself, which turned out to be quite the success. To compliment my tzatziki sauce, I decided that I actually needed something substantial for dinner and used things I had lying around in my kitchen (seriously, I only bought the feta cheese) to make Greek Turkey Pitas. Dinner tonight was truly greek-tastic! (And comparable to any Greek restaurant you'll find in your corner of the world.)

Tzatziki Sauce

8oz. nonfat PLAIN yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, finely diced
4 springs dill
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2 T. fresh lemon juice, (or more/less to taste)
salt, pepper

Line a colander with cheesecloth (you can also use coffee filters or multiple paper towels). Dump yogurt into colander and let sit over a bowl for at least 30 minutes (or you can leave it overnight inside the refrigerator). While yogurt is draining, place finely diced cucumber on multiple paper towels and salt. Let cucumber set for at 30 minutes to remove excess water. After cucumber and yogurt have drained, combine together in a bowl. Add dill and garlic. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve with warmed pita bread.

Greek Turkey Pitas

Cooked ground turkey (leftover from the turkey burger mishap)
Handful of Feta cheese
4 Sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves of Roasted garlic
8 Kalamata olives
1 whole pita, sliced in half (place in microwave for 20 secs to warm before stuffing)
Tzatziki sauce

Mix turkey, feta, tomatoes, garlic and olives together. Stuff into pita halves. Serve with tzatziki sauce. *Makes 2 pita halves.*

An easy and excellent Greek dinner for any night of the week. (I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure I'll make this again, so I'll repost then!)

Turkey Burgers

I was totally craving MEAT tonight. (It had been a rough day.) What better way to consume meat than in burger form. Yum-o. However, an assessment of the freezer lead to only ground turkey, surely, I thought, turkey can make a decent burger. So after going here, I found a tantalizing recipe for turkey burgers. After making my first 3 burgers and having them crumble in the pan, I added more breadcrumbs, so here is my adjusted and revised recipe. *Below picture shows all forms of turkey: the burnt part because my pan was too high, the crumbles because lack of bread crumbs, and the successful burger!*



Turkey Burgers

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup bread crumbs (+up to another 1/2 c. depending on the moistness of meat)
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
4 chopped fresh garlic chives
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
A couple generous shakes of Tabasco Garlic sauce
4 green onions top, sliced

Mix all ingredients together with fingers. For moist turkey, you'll need to add almost full 1/2 cup of additional bread crumbs. Form into 5 patties. Patties should firmly remain together when handled.

Let rest while heating a non-stick skillet over low heat,(too much heat will burn the outsides, which is not good eats). When skillet is warm, place patties in pan, but be sure not to overcrowd, you'll need flipping room. Leave burgers alone for 5 minutes, then check. If the bottom is nice and seared and the top is beginning to turn white, flip; if not, cook an additional minute or two.

After flipping, cook an additional 5 minutes until a nice sear develops. Remove from heat, top with cheese while still warm. Serve on a toasted bun with tomatoes and bread and butter pickles.

Original recipe modified from Simply Recipes