Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce ("Gravy")

I've been making spaghetti sauce in a crockpot for awhile now. After trying different things, I pretty much have a consistent way I make the sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pork spare ribs
• 1 italian sausage link (I use mild or sweet basil, but you can use hot if you like it spicy)
• 2 cans store bought spaghetti sauce (preferably one that doesn't have corn syrup in it)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• red wine or chianti (I use Ruffino Chianti because it's kind of got a strong flavor, but I bet any red wine would be fine)
• 1-2 tbsp sugar
• 5 pepperoncinis, stems removed, cut in half
• 2-3 tbsp juice from the pepperoncini jar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fennel seed, approx

In nonstick pan, heat olive oil until very hot. Sprinkle ribs with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper and add to pan along with sausage link. Brown well. When the outside of the sausage is pretty dark, remove and slice into bite size pieces. The insides will be raw and this is good for flavor. Add sausage to crockpot. When ribs are fully browned, add to crockpot. Turn pan with reserved oil down to low heat, add the garlic and saute until softened about 1-2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown! Pour spaghetti sauce into crockpot on top of meat. Add sauteed garlic, bay leaf, sugar, fennel seed, pepperoncinis and specified amount of pepperoncini juice. Fill up empty spaghetti jar about 1/3 of the way with the red wine, add to crockpot. Stir; turn crockpot on high and cook about 7-8 hours. The sauce will reduce as it cooks. Towards the end of the cooking time it may start to burn slightly on the edges. This is good for flavor. At that point add a little water if it is too thick for your liking. At the end of cooking time, using a teaspoon, skim off some of the grease from the top of the sauce. Serve with your choice of pasta.