Rainy Day Spaghetti

I love a big plate of spaghetti on a cold rainy night. I made this sauce a couple of summers ago after my mother-n-law gave us a variety of peppers from her garden. I had some Ragu Traditional Recipe spaghetti sauce in the pantry, so I thought I'd see what it would taste like with peppers. I really didn't expect it to come out good, but it did. My husband loves it. See, it pays to play around in the kitchen. The sauce has never tasted as good as it did the first time. My mother-n-law's peppers were the key. Last night I played with it further by adding some mushrooms. I think I'll add them from now on. Here's the recipe:

Ragu with Peppers
1 pound ground beef
1/2-1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 med-large jalapeno pepper, diced
1 anaheim pepper, diced
8 oz button mushrooms, chopped coarsely (optional)
1/4-1/2 tbs red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper (3-4 turns of the grinder)
13-oz jar Traditional Recipe spaghetti sauce from Ragu

1. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove from the pan, drain, and set aside.
2. Add olive oil to the pan. Then add garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to the pan. You may need to reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring here and there, until onions are translucent.
3. Add beef back to the pan and stir. Add the spaghetti sauce, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

I serve mine over half whole-wheat and half regular spaghetti noodles and top it off with fresh parmesan cheese that I slice off with a vegetable peeler. The sauce tastes even better the next day.