Red Sauce For Baked Ziti and Sausage

2 (28) ounce cans tomatoes or 20 fresh, large tomatoes(Fresh are best)
2 Medium stalks celery
1 Medium onion
2 TBS dry parsley or 4 TBS fresh chopped
1 Large carrot scraped clean and cut in pieces
1 Medium green pepper
1 Medium-sized zucchini (Unpeeled)
2-4 cloves garlic
S&P to taste
Tabasco or a hot pepper to taste
2 T. Sugar
2 TBS Parmesan cheese

Chop onions and peppers and saute in a little olive oil until slightly done. Put everything in blender (NOT THE CHEESE OR PARSLEY) and puree. Bring to boil then simmer on very low heat until the raw taste is gone and the sauce is thick. This will take several hours on simmer, so be patient. That's the basic sauce. You can add chicken, pork, meatballs, sausage, or seafood. Sometimes I skip the onion/pepper saute, but it definitely improves the flavor.

Add the chopped parsley and the Parmesan cheese about 30-minutes before you decide to stop simmering.

Optional - add a TBS of Porcini Mushroom Powder - it kicks the flavor up a few notches.