Turkey Gyro Salad w/ Homemade Tzatziki

       A Gyro is a Greek dish that is made from meat being vertically roasted rotisserie style and is often served in a sandwich with tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce. This version is more college kid friendly because it uses ground turkey instead, and there's also a gluten free option! It has such a unique flavor and is a great change of pace from my usual uses of ground turkey (chili, burgers, shepherd's pie).

       The homemade tzatziki sauce is delicious. You definitely cannot have a gyro without it! It also has many other uses so save the leftovers for anything from a dip for veggies or chips, a sandwich spread, or a sauce for any cooked meat or fish. (Follow up recipes coming soon!)

      It's a good idea to make the sauce a day in advance because the flavors will have time to develop and it tastes much better.

      I served mine a little different from the traditional style, because I've yet to see gluten free pita bread, and I have a feeling that if I did find any it would taste like straight up cardboard. Instead, I pan fried a corn tortilla in a little oil over the stove to create a tostada, and I also ate it as a salad with the tzatziki sauce for dressing.

      You could of course stick to the traditional pita if you aren't gluten free, but the salad is a low carb, healthy option! Plus it omits any oil based dressing and the Greek yogurt is fat free, so it is an extremely low-cal dish, packed with protein.

 




Turkey Gyros
Ingredients:
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper

salad greens
chopped tomatoes
chopped red onion
feta cheese

Directions:
Finely grate the cucumber and use paper towel to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Mix together yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, dill and salt and pepper to taste. Store in airtight container in fridge and wait at least a few hours for flavors to blend.
Heat a couple teaspoons of olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add turkey and garlic, stir and mix in oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram, onion powder and salt and pepper. Cook til browned, about 8 minutes, and drain the fat from pan.
Serve over salad greens with tomatoes, onion, feta and tzatziki sauce, or stuff all ingredients in a pita!