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!
Cooking together with the hubs is so much fun! Your fish sounds wonderful and comforting Angela!
We had pasta for our Valentine’s dinner too– cute heart-shaped ravioli from Costco! We’ve been together seven years and haven’t once gone out to dinner either– too much waiting! But we went out to brunch yesterday, at this local breakfast joint called Squeeze In, and there wasn’t a wait at all, and the food was delish! It was such a wonderful way to start the day:)
That looks amazing! I like your approach to Valentine’s Day :-)
Stephen and I feel the same way about V-Day. We just like to be ourselves and enjoy the day! We ate pizza and froyo and enjoyed every minute.
Oh wow, this sounds wonderful and the pictures are amazing. Agreed on not stressing or spending too much on Valentine’s Day and this looks like a wonderful way to spend it. I just want to make this now – thanks!
This might be a dumb question, but is it possible to make crushed tomato sauce by putting some tomatoes in a food processor?
Im not sure, actually! Anyone know?
It seems like that would work! I would definitely try it. :)
My husband and I are big on staying home for Valentine’s Day now too – it’s just too crazy out there and I enjoy being at home more than waiting around for an hour!
I love putting red-pepper flakes in my pasta sauce, they add just the right amount of kick to your dish. I like the addition of walnuts too, great idea- thanks for sharing!
I normally don’t love Italian, but you have me drooling with this recipe!
This looks delicious!
I made your oatmeal raisin cookies last night- with choc chips instead of raisins and with spelt flour. They are so good! I love how they aren’t overly sweet like most cookies.
i swear toasted walnuts go great with almost anything!!! savory or sweet!
“And if you’re lucky, your partner will remove it for you..” The sauce or your shirt? Sorry, I had to!
that’s for you to decide I guess haha
WOW! That looks so good! The photo’s are amazing! Nice job!
“And if you’re lucky, your partner will remove it for you..”
Remove the stains or the shirt?!
I loveeee the walnuts and how they had a crunch to the pasta!
walnuts with pasta? i NEVER would have thought!! this actually looks really good though… i may just have to try it out :)
I hate the pressure of Valentine’s Day, we used to go right over the top and it wasn’t enjoyable in the least. Last night we cooked and sat watching tv surrounded by hundreds of tea lights, snuggled up under a duvet. Simple but wonderful :-)
This looks delicious. And boy-friendly, too! :)
I’d have NEVER thought to put walnuts in pasta sauce, but I will now! Glad you and Eric had a nice Valentine’s day. My husband and I are proud of our imperfection too! And we have a ton of imperfect fun together, on Valentine’s Day and throughout the year!!
I agree the best Valentine’s Days are the low key ones that allow you to enjoy the company of each other without any gimmicks or hassles. I love cooking a meal at home on V-day and then taking advantage of the less-crowded restaurants before or after the 14th. Your pasta sauce looks lovely – I can’t wait to try it!
Ohhhh that looks delishhh!!! Guess what! Yesterday I was meandering through Costco’s aisles and just happened to see White Linen sauce!! : DDDD I remembered you raved about it and had to purchase it–I cannot wait to give it a try!
mine is all gone now :( lol
We celebrated V-day with brunch the day before and a relaxing dinner at home the night of. I actually made pasta too- vodka pasta (the recipe is on my blog). Yum!
Btw…do you use regular pasta or a special vegan pasta?
I used kamut pasta in this dish
Where do you get your nutritional yeast? I’m sure you get asked this but I haven’t found if you’ve posted that! :)
Hey Jenny – I saw your question and thought I’d chime in. You can usually find nutritional yeast in bulk bins at the grocery store, or in health food stores, usually in the baking isle. If that’s not successful, Bob’s Red Mill makes a fantastic nutritional yeast and they have online ordering!
I buy mine from ontario natural food coop and I think you can find it at Bulk Barn
AWESOME! Thank you dearly:) I’ve seen a lot of different kinds on amazon but didn’t know which was were actually good. I’m really excited to try this stuff, looks great! thank you!
My boyfriend and I made a pasta dinner too – a tomato and white bean I learned in a vegan cooking class. But for next year the walnut red sauce sounds perfect!
Oh gosh, I love pasta. I would love this. It looks SO easy!
I normally just eat pasta with coconut oil, pepper, salt, and a bit of minced garlic [usually because I’m too impatient to wait for the sauce] This looks so good though, I may break tradition and make this tonight for dinner. I have all the ingredients!
wow walnuts.. interesting! I have been having a love affair with basil for about three years. it’s so amazing :)
The pasta looks wonderful!
The food photography, as always, spectacular!
And the opening lines about feeling pressure to have “the perfect” V-Day. Yes, I think most of us can look back and recall a time in our life where that was so important. I even see girls doing it for their spouses’/boyfriend’s birthday. Making an epic event out of it. It’s lovely, but just not a standard I can live up to…I have tried, and I end up feeling meh about it all b/c even after all that effort, I just dont feel like I truly succeeded.
So rather than trying so hard…I just let life, and the holiday (whatever it is) be. And let it unfold naturally. That is my yoga, my work, and what I need to tap into…to let go :)
Thanks for letting me ramble :)
I love your outlook on letting it unfold naturally. We are a lot like that now actually. :)
That pasta looks phenomenal! I love looking at your photos!
Can’t wait to try this one. LOVED your Lentil loaf…how many days do you think it lasts in the fridge? Next time I will freeze half.
I think it would last for about 5 days probably?
I completely agree re your V Day sentiment. This year Mr BBB and I went bike riding then made macarons! It was wonderful :)
Great idea adding the walnuts. I love a little crunch with any meal!
Hope you had some help cleaning up any unruly pasta sauce. ;)
looks fab! My husband and I also had an “imperfect” Valentine’s Day and it was fabulous!
I’m not taking your ideas for next year! My husband and I tried to go out to eat last night and have a nice night but it turned out to be one of the worst V-day’s ever! No more expectations-just us from now on!
I’m not taking your ideas for next year! My husband and I tried to go out to eat last night and have a nice night but it turned out to be one of the worst V-day’s ever! No more expectations-just us from now on!
Sorry Sorry!
I AM taking your ideas for next year-yikes! Im spasing out today;)
This recipe sounds great! Thank you for including the link to info on nutritional yeast.
Mm this pasta looks delicious!! It’s pretty similar to a dish that my mom makes, except that my mom puts meat in hers :)
This looks wonderful, Angela! Tomatoes and basil are some of my favorites. And I’ve just made roasted walnut butter the other day, such a lovely flavor! :D
This looks amazing!! I’ve never seen walnuts used in a red sauce for pasta. THe butteriness must taste wonderful!
I made your pumpkin pie banana chunk cookies over the weekend and they were awesome! I love that they’re healthy enough to take the place of a granola bar. :D
I like your idea of valentines day a lot more than the “perfect” way! I hope you and Eric had a great day yesterday.
I prefer valentine’s days like that too … we go out for dinner/ on dates/ etc. all the time, so v-day is no big deal. No need to fight crowds.
Just bought a shaker of nutritional yeast and didnt’ like it in vegan sausage balls (it smells like biology lab…), but I’m willing to give it another try since this pasta recipe looks SO GOOD!
BTW I made your chocolate chip cookie dough balls recently and can’t wait to have them again… drool :)
ahhhh SO GOOD!! I just made this for my husband and I for supper…definitely going on my favorites list. Thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This looks delicious. I am making this recipe this week for my family. Can’t wait!
Hey, wanted to know if I could use parmesan cheese instead? If yes, then how much would I need to use?
I am so gonna make this, over the weekend!!
I would gradually add it in if using parm cheese…then you can add it to taste :)
This looks delicious, Valentine’s Day or not!
Angela, I don’t normally comment on your website, but I do follow it :) Your blog has inspired me with fitness and eating healthy. But most of all, your blog has introduced me to the infamous “green monster”. I just wanted to tell you that I was just reading my local newspaper (Regina Leader Post) and on the front page of the Arts and Life section, you are gracing the page making your “green monster”! I just have to say that I was delighted to see you in our paper and I’m hoping Regina, Saskatchewan catches on to the “green monster” movement and your blog ohsheglows :)
Thank you Glenda! :) I didn’t know it was in print yet. Exciting!
This looks amazing! I never would have thought to add walnuts … I’ll have to try it out!
Well said.
We enjoy spending Valentine’s Day together at home, instead of in a restaurant full of strangers. A wonderfully home cooked dinner, a chocolaty home made dessert, a roaring fire, and a movie we both enjoyed watching snuggled up on the couch.