More tomatoes, More sauce

With summer coming to an end, I have been harvesting tomatoes like mad, as well as all other vegetables we have in the garden.
I recently picked up a copy of Giada's Everyday Italian & wanted to try her bolognese sauce. Unfortunately, her recipes don't call for fresh tomatoes, so I had to guess a bit on how many to blanch & use. Hubby & I are tomato lovers, so for us, we error on the side of more.

Giada's Bolognese Sauce
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 pound ground chuck beef**
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes**
1/4 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

In a large skillet heat the olive oil. When almost smoking, add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onions become very soft, about 8 minutes. Add the celery and carrot and saute for 5 minutes. Raise heat to high and add the ground beef. Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps and cook until meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, parsley and basil and cook over medium low heat until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper. This will take approximately 1/2 hour. Finish bolognese with Pecorino Romano.

**My Notes** I blanched about 8 tomatoes, a mixture of roma & beefsteak. Then I peeled & seeded them. 2-3 tomatoes were placed in food processor with the basil. I pulsed for about 1 minute, until very smooth. I let all the veggies simmer for about 3 hours. Then I browned the meat, which I used ground pork, in a separate pan, drained the grease & added to the sauce. From there I let is simmer for another 3 hours. After I had added the meat, the sauce was SO thick, so I added some more chopped tomatoes.