I brought this much in every day for almost 2 weeks.....I hit the jackpot this year!

I married a step-Italian.  That is to say, he doesn't have Italian in his blood, but he sure as heck has Italian in his taste buds!  The boy could eat "noodles" every meal of his life and be quite happy about it.  Unfortunately for him, this girl has never made sauce (I know, it's a sin, right?), so he's been stuck eating jarred sauce.  That is, until now.

This girl - this decidedly non-Italian - had an overabundance of fresh tomatoes and no way to use them except in some homemade sauce.  But this girl is also not the kind of person to watch a sauce over a hot stove all day, especially when we don't have central air, and it's 90 degrees outside.  So what did I do?  I decided to once again make use of my amazing little slow cooker.  Oh, and when I say little, I think I chose the wrong one to use.  I would highly recommend at least a 5 quart slow cooker for this one.  You'll notice that the edges are a little browned in the picture?  That's because it overflowed just a bit.  But it still tastes amazing!

This recipe is a true fix-and-forget one.  Once the ingredients were in the slow cooker, I just let them go for about 9 hours and then added the herbs for the last hour to kick it up a notch.

Now we have our own jarred sauce (or at least a few jars' worth)!

Ingredients:

• approximately 6 lbs fresh tomatoes
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup blush wine (choose one that you like to drink - you'll like it in what you cook as well!)
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1/4 cup dried parsley
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Process the tomatoes in a food processor or blender until desired consistency for your sauce is reached.  I like mine just slightly chunky, but I know some who prefer a silky smooth sauce.
2. Saute onions until translucent; add garlic and saute another 30 seconds until fragrant.
3. Add tomatoes, garlic, onion, oil, salt, and wine into slow cooker.  Cook on low 9-10 hours.
4. Add spices and honey, and cook on low another 1-2 hours.  

Enjoy with your favorite whole wheat pasta or pizza crust!