Check out this trick - a whole, unpeeled tomato goes in the pot, and a tasty, seed-free, peel-free tomato sauce comes out! Okay, well, maybe it's not really magic, but it's a great trick to save you from having to peel, chop, and de-seed all those tomatoes (which is the reason I almost never made sauce from my garden tomatoes until now). We'll take care of the peels and seeds with a blender/food processor and a fine mesh strainer. Yes, a couple of extra things to clean, but it's still faster than all that peeling and chopping! Also, because the peels are cooked in the sauce, you preserve more of the nutrients in them. This is a highly customizable recipe (really more a framework than anything else) - make it smooth or chunky, with meat or vegetarian, regular or low-sodium, or even use it to hide a few extra veggies (a tip for you parents of picky children - you can make them completely undetectable). The quantities are inexact because there's so much variation in the size, taste and texture of fresh tomatoes, and anything else you add will change the flavor. So you really have to adjust the seasonings and other ingredients to compensate. This is part of the art of making tomato sauce, but don't be intimidated! Just add a little bit at a time until it tastes right to you, remembering the axiom: You can always put more in, but you can't take it back out. Unless you have a real magic wand, of course. :) NOTE: The quality of tomatoes will make or break this sauce; you MUST use fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes from your garden or a local farmer's market, not the variety you find in the grocery store that's been shipped in from another state.