Zesty Spaghetti Sauce With Sausage

Total Time: 32 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 mins

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb spicy ground lamb sausage (jimmy dean hot breakfast sausage works well, or any italian ground spicy sausage)
• 2 (29 ounce) cans store-bought spaghetti sauce (i like dole four cheese blend, but you could use any flavor or brand, or make your own)
• 4 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, italian style (diced okay, do not drain)
• 4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped ( or yellow)
• 1 medium red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms (fresh or canned, stems or pieces okay, no need to drain)
• 4 -6 cloves garlic, minced (to taste, i use minced garlic from a jar)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2-1 teaspoon sugar (to taste, some people like a sweeter sauce)
• 1/2-1 teaspoon seasoning salt (i prefer johnny's brand)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon red cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2-1 cup parmesan cheese, grated (or parmesan or romano blend)

Recipe

• 1 in two separate skillets or pots, brown the sausage and ground beef, and break into bite-sized chunks. do not brown sausage and beef in the same skillet, or all the meat will taste like sausage. drain grease well, then combine into a large stew pot and set aside.
• 2 while the meat is browning, chop all veggies into coarse pieces. add to stew pot with all other ingredients except the parmesan cheese.
• 3 simmer sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours or until celery is tender. i recommend covering the pot with splatter guard to prevent splatter, but do not use a lid as the steam needs to escape.
• 4 in last 10 minutes of cooking, remove bay leaf, stir in the parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. use more or less to desired thickness.