
This delicious meal came about on Saturday at midnight.
We had just arrived home from a friend’s house and Eric proclaimed that he was STARVING. So famished in fact, he was feeling sick to his stomach. He lifted his shirt and sucked in his stomach to emphasize his hunger while I gave him an unimpressed look suggesting that he should probably do something about it. After thinking back over the day’s events, he realized that he missed lunch on Saturday which probably explained for his lingering hunger!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait just a minute here.
How exactly does someone just forget to eat a meal?
Personally, I have never quite understood this phenomenon, although it happens to Eric at least once a week. I don’t think in my entire life I have ever forgotten to eat a meal.
I think it is a guy thing?
Anyways, Eric was lucky that I had a couple beers in me because he was able to convince me to cook him something…at midnight. I ended up making this quick (15 minutes flat) and delicious pasta dish.
I had no plan. I had no recipe. I just let inspiration guide me and we ended up with one kick butt pasta. When I presented this dish to him at 12:15am, the look on his face was just priceless. He knew he had struck it big.

Oh She Glows
Olive Oil Pasta with Walnuts, Lentils, and Red Peppers
This decadent pasta sauce will blow you away- and you won’t believe what is hiding in the sauce! Amped up with protein-packed lentils, spinach, red peppers, and crunchy, toasted walnuts this is certainly a pasta with a punch.
Yield: 1 large serving or two small servings
Ingredients:
- 1 serving (3oz) spaghetti (I used Kamut pasta)
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, dry toasted
- 1/2 cup + 1-2 tbsp medium heat salsa (I used Simply Natural brand)
- 1.5-2 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 2-2.5 tbsp nutritional yeast (gives it a creaminess)
- 1-1.5 tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried basil (fresh would be lovely!)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1/4-1/2 cup chopped red pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup spinach
- 1/3 cup cooked lentils
Directions:
1.Cook 1 serving of pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, grab a small pot and turn heat to medium. Add chopped walnuts to dry pot and lightly toast for a few minutes, being careful not to burn.
2. After toasting the walnuts, add in the rest of the ingredients (except for the spinach), to taste. Be careful as the walnuts will sizzle and may splatter when you add in the salsa. Stir well and heat on medium-low for another 7-8 minutes.
3. Place spinach in a colander and rinse. When pasta is cooked, remove from heat and pour onto the colander (with the spinach in it) and rinse lightly. Drain and then add the spinach and pasta into the pot. Now pour the sauce into the pasta and spinach and stir well. Season to taste and adjust flavours if necessary. Makes 1 large serving or 2 small servings.
It was his lucky night!

This was probably the most random pasta sauce I have ever made, but we both thought it was one of the most delicious, second only to the 15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta.
My random ingredients included…

Ketchup is the secret ingredient! It gives it a very slight hint of sweetness. Eric was very happy to see the ketchup bottle come out.

I also added about 1/4 cup of red peppers to the sauce.

After draining, add the spinach and pasta back into the pot.

Mix everything together and serve!

Eric loved this! I snuck a couple bites and I also thought it was delicious. In fact, I loved it so much I made it for myself on Sunday. (I also took the pictures on Sunday too!)

As I was preparing this, I realized that I have had a bit of a culinary ‘awakening’ over the past several months. I used to be terrified to cook anything without a recipe, but since I have had this blog I have really learned to embrace my adventurous side in the kitchen. Cooking shouldn’t be scary…it should be FUN! The great thing about cooking is that you can always adjust things to taste and keep tweaking things until you are satisfied. You pretty much cannot screw up.
(Unless of course, we are talking about last weekend when I dropped the opened salt shaker into our dinner dish just before serving!!) That was not my finest moment.

For dessert: Chocolate Cupcakes with Almond Buttercream and Raspberry Glaze.
PS- The record amount of rain turned into a snow storm this weekend!

Not cool weatherman, not cool.









{ 150 comments… read them below or add one }
No, not cool at all!! This meal looks delicious – you come up with some great creations at midnight! And I’m glad Eric didn’t waste away! :)
“I don’t think in my entire life I have ever forgotten to eat a meal.”
DITTO!!!
There’s about 20 inches of snow here, and more coming down! I definitely should have run outside when it was 45 degrees F the other day.
I don’t know how guys miss meals. My boyfriend always tells me at like 3 in the afternoon that he’s starving and hasn’t eaten all day.
I don’t understand “forgetting” to eat either – I’m about fifty times more likely to forget my own name than to forget a mealtime. I could have chronic amnesia and forget what a fridge was, and I’d still gravitate towards it several times a day.
That said, Eric is super lucky to have you! Can I like, employ you to follow me round and make ME awesome pasta whenever I feel like it?
hahaha oh you crack me up! I am the same
Meal looks delicious and I LOVE the colors!
YUM!!!!!!! I think your savory meals are my favorite!! Another yummy pasta recipe that I can’t wait to try!!
I have definitely NEVER forgotten to eat! I always wonder about people when they make that claim:-)
This looks pretty great for being whipped up at midnight!! Very impressive :D
Hello,
I’m from the Netherlands. Please forgive my Englisch.
Your dinner looks verry nice, i make that one for myself this week.
I want to ask you a question about your breakfast….You say dat you keep it in the fridge en eat it in the morning. so what i don’t understand is…oatmeal does that not has to coock. I mean you have the flakes??? en you prepare this in a bowl with frozen fruit and almond milk or so en place it in the fridge en eat it in the morning
YEah! what happens is the dry oats soak up all the moisture from the almond milk over night, so they are think and creamy, as they would be if cooked, by morning! It is DELICIOUS I tell you.
Hello,
I’m from the Netherlands. Please forgive my Englisch.
Your dinner looks verry nice, i make that one for myself this week.
I want to ask you a question about your breakfast….You say dat you keep it in the fridge en eat it in the morning. so what i don’t understand is…oatmeal does that not has to coock. I mean you have the flakes??? en you prepare this in a bowl with frozen fruit and almond milk or so en place it in the fridge en eat it in the morning
Hey Rianne from Netherlands (so cool!)
You are right…you mix everything up and place it in the fridge overnight. You do NOT need to cook it. It will be soft in the morning and the chia seeds will absorb all the liquid. If you don’t use chia seeds, I would cut down the liquid a lot.
Goodluck!
I use chia seeds ( if i am right its called by us in the Netherlands “gebroken lijnzaad”) thank you for explain it.
I love your blog…you inspire me with your meals en what you do!
Greetings Rianne
Hi Rianne,
I am from Finland, but I speak German and Swedish (and understand some Dutch through that), so I think I can tell you that “gebroken lijnzaad” is not the same as chia seeds.
Lijn is flax in English, if I am not mistaken. Chia is just chia. It is a different seed, not so common as flax. In Finland they are sold in natural health stores, maybe in Netherlands too; just ask for chia and they should know what it is.
Angela, wow that pasta seems too good to have been made at mignight! And you are so right about letting go in the kitchen. I am trying to learn that too. I used to always stress over recipes, and making them exactly like in the books. But that was no fun! I am learning now…
Looks so good! I love all of your pasta dishes!
Super impressive! Did you really take the pictures and everything while cooking at midnight?
Nope took the pics Sunday (I made it for myself the next day) :)
What??? You didn’t dig in right along with him? That’s one of my problems, I suppose. I eat whenever the hubby eats. It’s problematic because he too is one of those “I-forgot-to-eat” people. Yeah… it must be a guy thing!
I had a couple bites but I can’t eat right before bed because I wake up with really bad stomach pains. I have a very weak stomach and have to be careful with it! I did enjoy it Sunday though when I made it again. :)
Thanks for replying. I totally missed that bit in your post. Soooo sorry. The pasta looks awesome :) We don’t have ketchup at home, but I am sure that subbing in some tomato paste and a smidge of sweetener will allow me to get a similar effect :)
Looks delish! Think I’ll try whipping this up tonight. Sorry to hear about all that snow!
This pasta looks SO delicious! I’ve been dying to try nutritional yeast, and this looks like the perfect way to enjoy it. Mmm! :)
I have absolutely no concept of what it means to accidentally forget to eat a meal! I’m usually planning my next meal in my head as I am eating.
That pasta dish looks fabulous, and I am beyond impressed that you made it at midnight. My DH would have gone hungry (or more likely eaten a frozen pizza).
What a great looking combo! P.S. I’ve never skipped a meal in my life! Lol!
I never understood how my bf forgets to eat! Or doesn’t eat the whole morning! Gosh, I don’t forget to snack, how could I even forget to eat a proper meal!
Love this pasta dish. Your pasta meals always make me crave pasta :)
We got a ton of rain and it turned into snow here, too! I was not ready for that :( I want Spring!
I love walnuts in pasta – such a great combo!
Lucky Eric! That plate of pasta looks amazing! I love all the sneaky unique ingredients and the lentil power punch.
I don’t get how someone could forget a meal either… I never ever even forget my snacks. Silly men.
LOL – my boyfriend sometimes forgets to eat too. I’ve come to terms with it being one of those things in life I will never understand.
Here in Saskatchewan we’ve also been stuck in what seems like Perpetual Winter. I think I prefer -25 weather to a wet snowstorm though (neither are fun), so I don’t envy you!
This meal looks amazing I love the addition of salsa and ketchup definitely something I have to try ! Also i’ve never put lentils with pasta but it looks soo delicious!
Hi Angela,
You are dead-on with the whole forgetting to eat comment. I have NEVER understood how guys can do it. I knew someone who fainted once during his volleyball practice, and guess why? Because he forgot to eat for almost 2 DAYS. WHAAAATTT??!
I definitely have never forgotten to eat and I don’t think any female has :)
Keep up the fantastic work, your blog is beautiful and so are you!
-Irina
2 days….whaaaaaaaaa?
Thanks for your kind words!
My boyfriend is constantly forgetting to eat. It amazes me. I could NEVER do it. I watch the clock counting down the minutes until I can eat again [not all the time, but there are days]. This pasta looks fabulous! 40,000 unique hits on the 15minute avocado pasta is unreal! Good for you :)
Yummy looking pasta! That snow looks like somethiong that you would get on a Christmas card. So pretty, although I wouldn’t like to live with it though!
so not cool Ange! this weather can vamoose. two Friday’s ago I thought spring was here :(
YUM. That looks like the perfect Italian meal. I love all your recipes, and your pictures come out absolutely beautiful. I need to get me a nice camera!
Haha, my Erik “forgets” to eat once in awhile too, and I never, ever understand. We eat a lot of pasta in this household, and this pasta creation looks perfect! : )
All that snow looks awful!! But spring has to come eventually, doesn’t it???
Mmmm–this pasta looks wonderful! How creative of you!
Sometimes I get so wrapped up in whatever is going on at the moment that I forget to eat lunch and wonder why I’m so grumpy at 3:00 pm. It doesn’t happen often, though. Lunch time is my favorite time of day.
I love the flavor that walnuts add to pasta dishes…I think this is most definitely a kick-butt dish!
i have never skipped a meal either and i cant understand how others can!! usually im planning what i can have at the next meal after i finish hahah. its so fun using different pastas like kamut, spelt, brown rice or buckwheat!
YES! Totally a guy thing. I don’t get it either. My day revolves around my next meal. Silly boys.
That pasta looks fab. I’ve bee majorly craving a good dish like this!
I never forget to eat! Food and sharing meals are things I love, but I do have a lot of friends where eating just isn’t a big deal to them. My boyfriend for example will have a banana in the morning and then go snowboarding all day without eating anything (snowboarding > food). I think it’s kind of like how kids would rather be playing with their friends than come inside to eat dinner :)
that is a good analogy about kids…I guess I used to be like that too back in the day! My mom would have to beg me to come inside for lunch. I don’t know who that girl is anymore. haha
Ahhhh! Just when you thought Spring was right around the corner it turns to snow haha. I love pasta dishes. Pasta ia a fab blank canvas and anything added to it will always taste fab! Yuuuum!
Confession time…I was so busy yesterday that at 3:30 I realized I hadn’t eaten lunch. It was too late to eat lunch then, so I just went ahead and made dinner. I think the late cup of tea I had just kept me going.
This recipe looks great – simple flavors but I bet they taste absolutely amazing together! I don’t think I have ever skipped a meal – I have to eat every two hours, or I get cranky. HA!
I wish I was more adventurous in the kitchen. That pasta looks amazing!!
Boo to snow! I want the spring! :-)
Love this! I have almost all the ingredients on hand and not much else and I was wondering what to do with them…I now have dinner :)
And I love you brought up the whole not eating thing. This weekend my boyfriend and I were working on motorcycles for 10 straight hours a day with his dad, and it’d be 9 at night and they’d say “I’m hungry…oh I went grocery shopping this morning and forgot to eat anything”. WHAT? I go to the grocery store and usually buy something that I can try in my car. Men.
haha craaazy men!
The part about forgetting to eat made me laugh out loud:) Thanks for that!
This looks great, and so easy! I will probably substitute crushed tomatoes or something for the ketchup!
Oh yummy! How comforting with crazy weather like that to eat nice and warm food!