We loved reading your comments in my Without Self-Love, I have Nothing post. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
When Eric and I first started dating, we did all of the traditional things that we thought we were supposed to do on Valentine’s Day. We went to the crowded restaurants with long wait times and mediocre food. He bought me the over-priced roses and a box of chocolates. I wrote him a sappy poem and I bought him cologne. We often felt pressure to have a ‘perfect’ day.
Then, we realized that we’re not perfect, so we would never fulfill this expectation that we placed on ourselves. But, we could do it our way! We started making homemade silly cards complete with inside jokes. We got each other a thoughtful gift, but we didn’t go overboard. We enjoyed delicious meals in the comfort of our own home, made together. When we did this, we started to enjoy the holiday a lot more.
The perfect Valentine’s Day to us, is really the imperfect one.
I can’t think of a more perfect way to be imperfect than to enjoy a messy bowl of pasta that leaves red sauce in the corner of your mouth and a few stains on your shirt. And if you’re lucky, your partner will remove it for you..
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Tomato Walnut Basil Pasta
Yield: 3.5 cups sauce
Ingredients:
- One 28oz can crushed tomatoes (I used Utopia organic, salted)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion, diced (yield: 1 cup diced)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, stems removed &chopped finely
- 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 large handfuls spinach, roughly chopped
- 1/2-3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- Pasta of your choice (I used Kamut spaghetti)
Directions:
1. Chop onion and garlic. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the onion and cook over low-medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add in the minced garlic and cook on low for another 4-5 minutes until the onion is translucent.
2. Add in the oregano, salt, and black pepper. Stir well. Cook on low for a few minutes. Now add in the 28oz of crushed tomatoes, chopped basil, and nutritional yeast. Stir. Bring to a low boil and then simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cook your pasta.
3. Stir in the chopped walnuts and the chopped spinach. Cook for about 10 minutes longer on med-low. Serve over pasta and garnish with basil leaves and additional walnuts. Makes about 3.5 cups sauce.
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Making this sauce is very easy and it turned out quite delicious. The walnuts were absolutely amazing in this pasta sauce and I would not recommend leaving them out! They really brought the sauce to a whole new level and gave it a wonderful texture and flavour.
I’m sure you will ask me if you can leave out the nutritional yeast and I would say of course! The flavours will change though, so make sure you adapt the sauce to suit your preference.
The spinach was a fun add-in at the last minute. It is a great way to sneak in some GREEN Monsters. 
The walnuts were our favourite part about this recipe. I thought it would give the pasta sauce a great texture and nutty flavour and it worked wonderfully!
Garnish with some fresh basil leaves and more walnuts and serve!
Love.
It is also a heart-healthy dish to Go Red For Women. 
Glo Bakery Update:
- Glo Bar variety packs will be for sale tomorrow, Feb 16th at 10am EST.
Have a great day!
Oh this looks so good! What a great idea to use nuts to make vegetarian pasta more filling and nutritious! I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this.
Pasta is one of my favorites!!! Thank you for this AMAZING recipe! :D
This looks so delish Angela, can’t wait to try it!!!
btw, voted for you, Good Lukc!!
I’m going to make this tomorrow, adding mushrooms to it! I have a spaghetti squash to use up too, will pour the sauce over pasta and spaghetti squash.
I tried this recipe – it was amazing! Thank you.
I do have one question. Have you ever had a reaction to nutritional yeast? Before this dish I have never tried it. After eating it I felt really warm, my skin tingled a bit and I had a really bad headache. Have you or anyone you know ever experienced these symptoms? I have been looking online and apparently there are some serious pros and cons to nutritional yeast since it is processed and in a similar family as MSG. Thoughts?
Thanks for all the postings. I read daily and have tried many of your recipes. Keep Glowing!
No I havent had that experience before. I’m sorry you did…maybe talk to your doc about it if it persists!
My wife made this for me last week – soooooo good! What a great idea to combine walnuts with basil sauce and pasta. Nuts and pasta need to get to know each other better as far as I’m concerned. I’m converted. Your pal, Vegman.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! :)
I made this last week and wanted to tell you that it was the best pasta sauce I’ve had in a very long time!! I doubled it and served it to some family. They loved it! At first I was hesitant of the walnuts, but I was very happy! Added texture, but they also tasted a little ‘meaty’. This was so good that I actually forgo-ed dessert and instead had an extra spoonful of this! Also, with my leftovers I made meatball grinders with this sauce- perfect! Oh- and it was so easy and simple! Another plus! Thank you!
I made this last night and will enjoy the leftovers all week! I did not add the walnuts to the entire batch as I figured they are best served right away – when I heat the sauce in my small saucepan I am just adding the walnuts then. I added mushrooms to this, and I (begrudgingly) used dried basil since my store was out of fresh, but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. So delish – there’s nothing like a big bowl of noodles and tomato sauce. (and I love the protein punch from the nutritional yeast!)
How much pasta did you use?
Soooo good! Just made this for two of my meat-eating friends and they loved it!
Made this last night and it was a huge hit!!! Everyone loved it! Thank you for this recipe!
Hey Angela! Do you by any chance have a nutrient analysis for this recipe?? Thanks!
Just made this last night. Delicious!! I wasn’t sure about the walnuts, but I loved them. The nutritional yeast made it almost creamy-like. I think I will try it again and add some other veggies, maybe peppers and mushrooms. Thank-you so much for another great recipe!!
What an awesome recipe! Thank you for sharing your ideas with us. It’s easy to be vegan when there are simple and tasty recipes like this. My husband and I really enjoyed it. Look forward to trying your other recipes!
Made this last night. So simple but oh so delicious! Can’t wait to eat it for lunch again today
I make this recipe regularly. It is delicious! I barely make my own spaghetti recipe anymore!
This is a great recipe. I’ve made it a few times now. I’m not able to recreate the deep red color you show in your beautiful photos, however, despite following the recipe to a tee. Mine turns out quite a bit lighter in color (I’m guessing due to the walnuts and nutritional yeast. How did you achieve such a rich red hue?
Yum! I am currently eating this, awesome and super easy! Thanks!
hey, can you please tell me how much pasta shall we use? I’m little confused! :)
I made this for dinner tonight. I did add mushrooms. I used a 13.5 oz box of whole wheat pasta. Makes enough to feed a crowd! We enjoyed it very much. I will definitely make again.
I’m glad the pasta was a hit with everyone, Sharon! Mushrooms sounds like a great addition, too. :)
Angela your 10 tomato recipes are awasome. I am confusing that what I will select to cook whereas your all tomato recipes are delicious. So finally I choose your Walnut Basil Pasta. Basically I am a cook lover and I love to present different type of dishes for my family. I am going to have to make this evening. Thank you for sharing I will update you after cooking. Have a great day! Take care Angela
Sorry but I didn’t care for this at all. I can’t even say what it was that didn’t work for me. I followed the recipe very carefully and even waited a second day to see if it was better by then. Nope. Not saving any leftovers on this one.