Better Than a Jar Spaghetti Sauce

Description: I've made this spaghetti sauce several times when we've had guests over for dinner parties. Always great the first, second and third time around.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef (or 4 Italian sausage links cooked and cut into bite size pieces)
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup merlot (or red cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 large carrot, shredded
• 10 ounces button mushrooms (whole or sliced)
• 1 -2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
• 1/2 tablespoon oregano, ground
• 1/2 tablespoon basil, ground
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Steps:

1. Brown ground beef and onion and drain.
2. Add zucchini and peppers to ground beef and cook for about 2 minutes stirring well.
3. Add wine to ground beef mixture and simmer for another 2 minutes, stir well.
4. Add rest of ingredients to hamburger mixture.
5. Simmer for 1-2 hours.
6. Serve on penne pasta or spaghetti noodles.
7. This can also be made in the crock pot. Cook the first three steps on the stove and add to the crock pot when completed. Add all other ingredients to crock pot, cover and cook for 6-8 hours.