homemade marinara sauce

I made homemade marinara sauce a couple weeks ago and just haven't had time to post it.  I made this sauce because I didn't have any pasta sauce, but knew I most likely had all the ingredients for a simple homemade sauce.  Also, it keeps in line with my Eat Through the Kitchen Challenge (still going!).  I found this recipe on on the internet (The Frugal Cafe).

It was pretty easy and it used up all the canned tomatoes I had on hand.  It tasted really good, also. The recipe calls for pureeing, but I couldn't be bothered with that.  Instead I broke up the stewed tomatoes while they were cooking.  The result was a very chunky sauce.  I threw in some Italian sausages after partially frying them.  They finsihed cooking in the sauce.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

1 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
1 sm. onion, diced
1 sm. green or sweet pepper, diced
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp. dried fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Dash black pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil on low heat until onion is tender.
2. Stir all remaining ingredients in with sautéd mixture; heat just to boiling; then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Optional:  Carefully purée the hot sauce in in a food processor or a blender. (I didn't puree mine.)