Favorite Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Guess what I am doing right now?  I get to go to work a few hours later than usual, so of course I threw in the oven some of my homemade bread, and now I am cooking spaghetti sauce on the stove, because I can!  Here is my favorite recipe I got from www.melskitchencafe.com, and I changed it just a tiny tiny bit!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
3 Tblsp olive oil
2 cups onion, chopped and divided
1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
2 lbs hamburger (at least 90% lean)  I ,sandee, do not use any meat
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I buy the chopped garlic in jar)
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
3 tsp dried oregano
3 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
2  14-oz cans Italian style diced tomatoes
1  28- oz cans crushed tomatoes
1  large can tomato sauce
(sometimes I add a can tomato soup cuz I have lots of cans in my cupboard)
1 carton fresh mushrooms sliced
1 1/2 cups beef stock or beef broth  (I just had bouillon cubes,so I  used four or five cubes)
4 Tblsp brown sugar (I think I put in a little more!)
2 bay leaves ( I don't always have them)
2 Tblsp balsamic vinegar

Heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add 1/2 of the onions and saute until translucent and slightly browned.  Add garlic and stir constantly for one minute.  Add beef and cook until no red is showing.  Drain beef slightly.  Blend up the remaning onions and red pepper in a blender or food process until mostly smooth (I dont  do this, I just throw them all in chunky) Add mixture to the garlic, onions and beef and stir to combine, cooking for another minute.  Add tomato paste and spices and cook for one minute, stirring until combined.  Add tomatoes, beef broth and sugar and mushrooms if using. Stir until combined and add the bay leaves.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Fifteen minutes before serving, stir in the balsamic vinegar
Note: the sauce will seem watery at first but will reduce to perfection after simmering for an hour.  I've let it simmer on the stove for up to three hours before with no problems (this is from Mel, not sandee!) I usually add more tomato sauce or soup and it is pretty thick and I have never cooked it more than 30 min)

YUMMY!  I like to make this as it makes a big batch and you can use it throughout the week for lunches at work as well.  It beats buying Prego all the time and makes you feel good when you put in your own fresh ingredients, today I added zuchhini as well, like the chunky garden style of spaghetti sauce.

YOU KNOW WHAT? it takes a lot of energy to cook at home and make things fresh, like chopping fresh veggies and so forth, so for energy, I take good vitamins.  YOU NEED GOOD VITAMINS to get through each day as we do not get the minerals and vitamins from foods that we should be getting.  I take the Nature's Code by Dr Taub from QVC, they have for women and men, over 50 or under, and they are awesome.  Kinda expensive but you cant put a price tag on ENERGY that comes from the right source!  What vitamins do you recommend or prefer or take?

For the nourishing of our souls: IN life all of us at one point or another will be struggling with trials, hard times, unfairness, anger, frustration, and all that fun stuff.  It is so refreshing to read from other people who have had hard things happen to them and how they successfully deal with it, I found the best book ever, called A new Kind of Normal by Carol Kent, I was just at my little local library and saw the title and read it and LOVED IT, she has some great uplifting advice and stories to share.
Her one and only son whom she and her husband loved dearly and who they raised Christian, well he fell in love with a woman who had an ex husband and two little girls, and one day he shot the ex husband out of sheer frustration and anger that the ex husband was going to harm his wife and little girls.  And he went to prison.  And he will never get out.  This is a mothers story and scriptures that she uses to get through her sadness, BEAUTIFUL book, get it and read it, I ordered me one off of Amazon for like .88 cents, buy one for your library , when you are struggling you will be glad you did, my highlight was her epilogue, courage for the long haul,SO GOOD.
GET IT, READ IT!