First off - don't ever even dream of using supermarket tomatoes for a sauce & expect it to be flavorful. Peeling & seeding has nothing to do with it - the tomatoes have the flavor & consistancy of styrofoam, regardless of what they're called. Unless you have access to good garden or farmers market tomatoes & actually want to go to all the trouble of peeling & seeding them, just BUY good quality canned tomatoes. My favorites are imported Italian plum tomatoes in their own juice or puree. You need do nothing but open the can, & the flavor & consistency is wonderful.
I do have access to farmers market tomatoes, but I just wanted to try real tomatoes just to try it.
Secondly - were you actually following a recipe, or just throwing things in willy-nilly? I ask because your description of what you did sounds sort of erratic.
I wasn't going by a set recipe. I was going on memory of how a cook did it in front of me. I really liked the way the sauce tasted and I wanted to replicate it.
While there is TONS of room for leeway, cooking IS a sort of science. A science that is tons of fun & enjoyment & definitely not worth "quitting" just because things don't initially work out. But if things don't initially work out because you're cutting corners or not actually reading thru a recipe, I think you need to sit down & decide to develop a little patience. After just a couple of tries, claiming this to be your "last" attempt at making a red pasta sauce doesn't bode well for you trying & succeeding at something more challenging.
By "last attempt" I meant, the last time I tried to cook the sauce, which was last night. I do intend to try it again, this time with some changes to hopefully make it come out better. Overall, though, I did like it. It just wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked.
Again - all I'm saying is - take a deep breath & don't be so impatient. Cooking is & should be FUN!!
I'm trying, I'm trying. sheesh!