If you have never made, used or tasted fresh sun dried tomatoes; you are in for a real treat. Fresh sun dried tomatoes are incredibly flavorful and is the key ingredient in this as well as many other recipes. Their flavor can't be duplicated. Store bought barely come close to the flavor, sweetness and texture of fresh sun dried tomatoes. Once you make them and taste them, it will be something you and your family look forward to every year. And an important bonus, if you have smaller kids this is something you and your kids can do together and they will love checking on them everyday.
Picking the right tomatoes for the right recipe is important. Also thickness is a huge preference when making your own.
Ultimately, fresh home grown tomatoes will yield by far the best flavor sun dried tomatoes you can get. So if you have some, think of sun drying some of them.
Medium to small, more meat, less seeded tomatoes work great. You even could split cherry, champagne or grape long ways if you like. Our preference (simply to snack or incorporate in recipes are: home grown, small, thin sliced Early Girl, Roma, or Striped Roman.
You'll need three mesh screens (2 could work) like window screens or the tops to a terrarium, a little cheese cloth, a sharp knife and that gorgeous hot Texas summer sun, oh, and about 5 days, west Texas, you may need only 4 if the humidity stays down.
So thinly slice tomatoes (not razor thin, more like a slice you get on a fast food hamburger, remember, when dried they will be much smaller.) trying to keep in tact, this is where a sharp knife comes in. Start at the bottom of the tomato and work your way up.
Lay one mesh screen down, then a second. Spread slices out over screen not crowding. Top with final screen. A couple little clamps or something to secure screens together is not a bad idea and keeps smart little beaks, and little furry paws our of your drying tomatoes. Finally loosely cover with cheesecloth for the first two days.
Set screens out where it will get the most sun, and away from any automatic sprinklers.
After a couple days it should be OK to remove the cheesecloth.
Once completely dried, gather and again, in west Texas, simply store in a bowl or plastic container. More humid climates, seal in plastic container.

Heat olive oil in your sauce side pot to medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until just soft, add garlic, season with salt and black pepper. Combine well and sauté 3-4 minutes.

Add fire roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes and water. Bring to a hard simmer, then reduce slightly. Simmer uncovered 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (scrape off the sides back into the sauce). Add seasonings, cayenne, scant amount of salt and pepper. Simmer 15 more minutes.

Blend sauce until completely smooth with an immersion blender.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in sauté pan to high heat.

Add onion and stir to coat well. Reduce heat slightly and add Better Than Bouillon and mushrooms, garlic salt and pepper to taste, combine well. Reduce heat and sauté 5 minutes.

Now add heated chicken stock and sauté stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has been reduced and pan is almost dry. Pour off into container, leaving anything stuck to the pan and back on heat to medium high.

Add fresh ground lean chuck in small amounts and begin breaking up. Season well to taste with garlic salt and black pepper. Let cook until well broken up and most liquid has come out.

Remove beef to medium cup processor, placing skillet back on burner.
Pulse 3 or 4 times until beef is uniform in size and about the size of BB.
Now move to fine hole strainer and strain a couple minutes. Pressing slightly.