Tomato Sauce Attempt #1

This has been the first year since I moved to the farm that our tomato plants didn't contract powdery mildew that South Western Ontario has been hit with for the last few years. We planted two beef steak plants and one plum tomato plant - all are thriving! While on vacation last weekend many tomatoes ripened up. I decided to create my own tomato sauce with them for two reasons. One, my husband won't eat tomatoes and there was no way I could eat them all on my own. Secondly, in my years of cooking I've never made a batch of sauce from scratch before (with fresh tomatoes). I was feeling a little risky yesterday and decided to make it up as I went. I'm not overly thrilled with the outcome but will explain where I would make changes next time.

10-15 large tomatoes (I used a combo of beef steak & plum)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed (I only used 3 and it wasn't enough!)
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 package frozen, chopped spinach, thawed & drained (I used a whole package & didn't thaw & drain...not recommended)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp hot chili pepper flakes
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
*depending on your tastes add more or less of these herbs

Cut core out of tomatoes. Submerse 5 tomatoes at a time into a pot of boiling water for 10-20 seconds (until skins wrinkle). Remove with slotted spoon and put into sink of cold water. Remove skins. Repeat until all tomatoes are peeled. Squeeze tomatoes to remove the liquid and some of the seeds. This will ensure your sauce has some thickness to it (I neglected to do this!). Set aside. Heat large pot on medium and add olive oil. Once oil is warm, add garlic and saute for 1 min. Add onions. After the onions have gone translucent add all spices/herbs at once. Once you have everything mixed around and the spices/herbs are warmed up, add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours (uncovered!). Sample and see if you need more kick (pepper flakes) or seasoning (salt & pepper). Pour into food processor and pulse a few times. Don't do it too much or else you'll end up with a ketchup texture. I was able to freeze 4 sandwich sized zip lock containers from this recipe. This a fairly basic sauce that I will add to when I use it (ground beef or chicken, Tabasco sauce, Olive oil for more body etc.). Because I used too much spinach the colour was a little off. Attempt #2 will be posted once I have some ripe tomatoes.