In a cold, large sauté pan, break the Italian sausage into small pieces and season it with the olive oil, salt, pepper, granulate garlic, and crushed red pepper. I like to start with a cold pan since it takes a while to crumble the sausage and I don’t want the first pieces to get a head start. Put the pan on the stove over medium heat. Cook the meat until it’s just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Try not to overcook it at this point since it will be in the pan for a while yet.

When you’re satisfied with the meat, turn the heat to medium-low. Add the onions, red bell peppers, basil, and oregano to the meat and sauté everything for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally until the onions start to turn translucent. Now add the minced garlic, pretty hot peppers, and mushrooms. Stir those in and sauté for about 5 more minutes. Please try to find the Cherchie’s product. It’s a perfect blend of sweet and heat that regular green chilies don’t possess.  If you can't find it in the grocery store, ask them to order it for you.  They will carry other Cherchie's products and this is available to them.  If they refuse, try here: http://www.cherchies.com/prhotpe.html

Dump the pasta sauce and wine into the meat mixture and stir it in. You want a nice simmer going, not a boil. Adjust the heat accordingly and stir it occasionally so you don’t burn anything sitting on the bottom of the pan. You could make your own tomato sauce from homegrown tomatoes, but it takes all day and ends up tasting exactly the same. Save yourself a headache and use the canned stuff. This sauce is more about the fillings than the tomatoes.

After the sauce simmers for about 10 minutes. It’s time to get the pasta going. Crank up the heat on the water to high. Once it starts boiling, throw in the pasta. Follow the timing directions on the box for an "al dente" noodle; please use a kitchen timer. Stir the pasta occasionally as it cooks.

With about 6 minutes left on the noodles, it’s time to thicken up the sauce. Before you ask, yes, definitely use the "reduced fat" Parmesan. It thickens without getting stringy as real cheese would. Turn the heat under the sauce to low. Throw in a 1/2 cup of the Parmesan to start, stir it in, then add another 1/2 cup. This will give you a very thick sauce (more like a paste). Once the Parmesan is incorporated, turn off the heat. If you let this paste simmer, those bubbles will violently explode and leave you quite a mess to clean up.

By now your noodles should just about be done. The only way to know for sure is to pull one noodle out, blow on it, and taste it. It should still have some texture, but not be hard and crunchy. If it’s too hard, let it boil for another minute and taste it again. Once you're happy with the texture, turn off the heat and drain the noodles.