Sort of Southern Greens

I call these "sort of" because I can't imagine any self-respecting Southerner would A) use butter-flavored cooking spray instead of butter, oil, or (shudder) bacon grease B) use Tofurkey sausage instead of actual meat or C) be real interested in red curly-leaf kale. Nevertheless, here goes.

1 bunch curly-leaf kale, about 2-3 cups coarsely chopped
1 Tofurkey sausage
cooking spray
salt
red pepper flakes
garlic

Heat a medium saucepan on medium high, spray generously with cooking spray and add the garlic. Slice the Tofurkey and throw it in the pan, stirring occasionally until it just begins to brown. Then add the kale and red pepper flakes. Stir frequently, and keep an eye on it. After only about five minutes, the kale will have shrunk significantly, turned a darker color and softened. It's ready. I served it over rice with a splash of hot sauce (my favorite ever is the Pepper Plant. Seriously, I don't know why there aren't cults devoted to this stuff. I'd join.). It was quite tasty and filling. My sweetie liked them, too.

On the Tofurkey sausage, I used to say that I don't use a lot of meat substitutes, but that's not really true anymore. I almost always have some on hand, whether it's the Morningstar Farms bacon-like strips or fake sausages, ot the Yves Smart Dogs, or the Gardenburger meatless riblets. I like a lot of them, even though I don't have them on nearly a daily basis. I go through phases, sometimes eating a couple riblets a week or eating fake sausage with my breakfast every day until they're gone, and other times I won't have anything for ages. I haven't had any of the fake meat products in at least a couple months until we brought the Tofurkey home. It tastes pretty good. If you're a die-hard carnivore, it may not satisfy you, because it doesn't have that spurting-grease/chunks of unidentifiable white gristly bits that you're used to, but it's fairly meaty and will probably satisfy folks who are watching their cholesterol or weight and don't mind the occasional meat-free meal. Keep in mind, though, that this endorsement is coming from a woman who hasn't had a sausage in well over 16 years, and come to think of it, really never had many sausages before that. Here's a meat-eater's opinion: "They're not meat. I don't know. I was worried about them in the spaghetti sauce because I felt that they lost a little texture in there, but you know, for non-meat, they're okay."