Mondays in our house = DETOX. After a very fun weekend at the beach celebrating a life long friend’s bachelorette it was time to hit the grocery store yesterday and stock up on veggies, fruit and lean proteins. I will be featuring low carb or no carb 30 minute meals all week, and last night’s dinner turned out even better than I had anticipated — PLUS, I finally got to put my new Paderno Spiralizer from Williams-Sonoma to work in order to create the cucumber “ribbons” for the salad side dish. I will be using this handy little gadget later this week to make zucchini noodles, also known as, “zoodles”. I highly encourage you to purchase this cook’s tool as it will create alternatives to using pasta, potatoes or high carb ingredients. Enjoy testing out these Greek recipes — Opa!

Scroll down past the recipes for a step by step photo gallery.

Marinated Cucumber Ribbon Salad – Serves 4

• Use your Veggie Spiral Slicer to create ribbons with one large cucumber and half of a purple onion… if you do not own this cooking tool then just thinly slice both ingredients with a sharp knife
• toss the thinly sliced cucumber and purple onion in a medium bowl with the following:
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper to taste
• the juice of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill (or dried dill)
• cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving – serve chilled!

Quick Tzatziki Sauce

• in a small bowl combine the following and chill in the fridge for at least one hour prior to serving
• 1 pint plain greek yogurt
• 1 small cucumber diced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
• salt & pepper to taste (1 teaspoon of each)

Greek Turkey Burgers – Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground turkey meat
• 1/2 cup chopped flat parsley — make sure it’s “flat” – this is usually in the lettuce section
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat feta cheese crumbles
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ripe tomato, 4 slices
• Tzatziki sauce, either homemade or a good store bought brand is Cedar’s
• baby spinach leaves in lieu of a bun or use a bread bun if desired
• red onion and fresh dill for garnish

Directions:

• preheat oven broiler to 500
• in a large bowl combine the following and form 4 meat patties:
• mix ground turkey, green onion, feta, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper
• place meat patties on a cookie sheet with nonstick spray and broil for 13 minutes, do not flip them
• over a bed of baby spinach leaves place 1 meat patty
• top with a slice of tomato, a few thin slices of red onion, a scoop of tzatziki sauce and garnish with fresh dill, salt and pepper
• serve along side with the cucumber salad

Photo Gallery

Marinated Cucumber Ribbon Salad

Greek Turkey Burgers