Pecan Pie Muffins and Slow Cooked Mushroom Gravy

YES! I am drinking Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc.  Yes, I had had to open the bottle of wine to add 1/2 cup to the Slow Cooked Mushroom Gravy.  This gravy ROCKS!  It is excellent!  I'm telling you, I'm going to have to try the entire recipe, including the Chicken Fried Tofu Steaks.  Man, this is some good gravy. 

Yes, my pan is a mess and you should see the front of my shirt.  I used the immersion blender and guess what?  The gravy was not deep enough so the gravy went FLYING everywhere!  I finally got smart and just pulled all of the mushrooms out of the pan into a deep blending container (that actually came with the immersion blender) and blended them in the container and then returned them to the pan.  The gravy is not 100% smooth, it still has some texture from the mushrooms, but just enough.  This gravy will be perfect on my Seitan Turkey with Stuffing roast (which I sampled and is very good).

I happen to love mushrooms and these mushrooms looked perfectly sauteed before I add the wine to them.  I generally don't like a wine flavor in my food, but surprisingly, I do not taste "wine" in the gravy, just savory goodness.

I also made the Vegan Pecan Pie Muffins and they turned out nice.  I didn't have quite a cup of pecans, probably 3/4 of a cup, so I added about 1/4 cup of shaved chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Mine look MUCH darker than the original recipe, and that must be due to the chocolate.  They are very sweet, but very good and they absolutely do taste like pecan pie.  :)

I still need to clean up the pans from the gravy (and all of the splatters), so I better go do that before I drink any more wine.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with the love and laughter of good friends and family! :)