Sweet Sausage Sauce & Pasta

Here's a recipe that we LOVE from my friend Heidi:

Sweet Sausage Suace & Pasta:
2 lbs. Italian sausage
2 medium sweet onions, chopped
2 medium sweet red peppers, chopped
2 medium green peppers, chopped
6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 (29-oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5-oz.) cans Italian stewed tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. ground pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (opt.)
1 1/2 lbs. bowtie pasta
1/2 cup heavy cream
shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In a large saucepan, saute onions, peppers, and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in tomato sauce, tomatoes, brown sugar, and seasonings. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, process tomato mixture in batches until smooth. Return to pan. Add sausage and heat through. Gradually stir in cream. Cook and stir over low heat until ready to serve. Be mindful of cream in sauce - don't heat too high or for too long or it will curdle. Top pasta with sauce and sprinkle with cheese just before serving.

NOTES: This makes a very huge batch, so you can definitely half it if you don't want that much. I love that it makes so much and I just take about half of the sauce and freeze it for later (no noodles) and the rest lasts a couple meals for us to have right away. Todd loves that this sauce has a little kick to it. The other great part about it is that if you have kids that won't eat chunks of veggies in their sauce, they don't even know that this recipe has so much good stuff in it since it all gets blended together.