Farm Wife's Spaghetti Sauce

This is my basic spaghetti sauce. In a perfect world, I would add black olives and mushrooms to it, but alas, Mark says no! Still, it's pretty darn good as-is! This recipe makes a really big batch of sauce (the picture is only half the batch). For our family, it's two meals worth. I freeze half.

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. Italian Sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 TBS fennel, coarsely crushed
• 2 28oz. cans CRUSHED tomatoes
• 1-2 TBS minced garlic
• 3 rounded TBS Italian Seasoning
• 1 TBS basil
• 1 cup finely shredded Italian Cheese (Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, or any combination)
• S&P to taste

In a large dutch oven or sauce pan, heat the olive oil and then add ground beef, sausage, onion, bell pepper, and fennel. Cook until meat is browned, then add tomatoes and seasonings (this is also where I would add in mushrooms & olives). Cook on low as long as you can, at least a couple of hours, stirring occasionally (also works great in crock-pot, but skip the stirring). About the last 30 minutes, add in the cup of cheese, and stir fairly often.

I like this served over thin whole wheat spaghetti; nine times out of ten, though, we have it baked with cheese, per hubby's request. Here's tonight's, fresh from the oven.
Enjoy!
Em