Tofurkey Round 2: A Hideous Mistake?

Call me a glutton for punishment, but god help me, I did it again: I sampled another item from the Tofurkey line of vegan treats. You may recall my first experiment, detailed in the post "What the *(&$ Did I Just Eat?" If you haven't read it, and you can't tell from the title, I'll give you a clue: it sucked. So, you may be wondering (and rightly so), why on earth would I try Tofurkey AGAIN?

That's precisely what I was asking myself last night, as I hauled out the Tofurkey "Italian sausage," which I was planning to add to pasta sauce. Before you ask, yes, I am on medication that may affect my judgment. Heavily medicated or not, as I investigated the package I thought, "Looks harmless. And it can't POSSIBLY be as bad as the pizza, right?" (See blog post "The Beginning" for my thoughts on people who make foolish proclamations such as the preceding.)

Hey! This doesn't look too bad! 

I wasn't a total idiot. I hadn't entirely forgotten the horror that was the pizza. This time I was planning to disguise the Gourmet, Meatless, and Delicious! "sausage" with onion, spinach, and lots and lots of tomato sauce. First step: slice the "sausage." It was starting to look a bit less appealing at this stage:

Oh, dear. Maybe this was a mistake.

The "sausage" was resting in an off-putting puddle of orange-y oil, and as I sliced it I detected a texture I had to force myself not to think about. Let's just hurry past this part and get this thing in the pan, my judgment-impaired, medicated self said to myself. Once it's covered with onions and spinach and sauce, it will be better. Into the pan with you, Mr. Sausage Swimming in Orange Oil! Now that does, indeed, look better:

If you squint a bit, it actually resembles sausage! 

Next step was to stir in some spinach and add some tomato sauce, which I did before I even dared to try the concoction. Gingerly, I raised a spoonful to my mouth and...it wasn't bad. It would fool no one who has eaten gen-u-wine Italian sausage, but it definitely was not bad. In fact, I ate the entire plate, as did my husband. So, in my book, this recipe counts as a Swank Success!

Today, I'm hitting the store to get some items for a new Swank recipe, so be looking for a report soon.

Until then!
Ms. CrankyPants