dom, what kind of meat do you use?
i'm a huge fan of pork in my sunday gravy. pork rib ends, pork brasciole, and sweet italian style pork sausage with extra fennel seed.
but, i also like some beef in the pot, so if there's already pork in the gravy, i make all beef meatballs. if no pork in the pot, then i make the meatballs from 70/30 ground beef to ground pork - with a jumbo egg/lb of meat, a cup or so of grated parm, a little less than 2 cups of seasoned breadcrumbs, a cup or so of dried parsley, and a half cup of milk.
more or less. i do it by feel and have never measured anything. if right, the meat should just stick to the bowl and your fingers without being too gooey.
i used to make everything in one pot, but now i brown everything in a ss deep sautee, then transfer them into a stock pot. i feel like i get better control of the browning processes that way, and i deglaze the sautee with some tomato juice or puree (from a can), or red wine after each browned item, adding the liquid to the stock pot as well. fresh tomatoes are peeled and seeded, then chopped and put in. canned tomatoes are crushed by hand as they go in. a few bay leaves, some oregano, and some parsley, too.
as far as veggies go, i ALWAYS start with roughly diced onion and sliced garlic. both browned a little.
the rest of the veggies are variable, from whatever i have on hand or growing in the garden. often it's carrots, bell peppers, fennel (bulb), zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and mushrooms. the carrots, peppers, and fennel are sauteed in oo first before being added to the pot.
the squash, zukes, eggplant, and mushrooms are added during the last half hour of cooking so they don't turn to mush.