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!
Mmm, cute story and a delicious recipe! Happy belated v-day to you and Eric!
I can’t believe people actually go out on holidays. The lines, crowds, and prices are all insane!
Looks so good!!
I have never thought of nuts on pasta!! It has been WAY too long since I have had piscetti, time to change that!:)
My grandparents were Italian and made spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday. My grandpa always twirled his pasta on a fork like that. *sigh*
My tummy just started growling when I saw that dish! Yummy!
My boyfriend and I are similar, we don’t do the “traditional” Valentine’s. On Sunday I sent him on a scavenger hunt around the house to find his cheap but thoughtful gift and then we cooked up a butternut squash and chestnut soup which we ate while drinking some wine and watching a movie. I loved every minute of it!
aww that’s cute!
I’m ALWAYS on the hunt for new things I can throw into my pasta… now I finally have a use for those leftover walnuts I have sitting around from my Christmas cookies!
I love the imperfections of celebrating “perfect” holidays. Three years running, I have come down with some kind of ridiculous ailment on either our anniversary or Valentine’s Day — on our one-year anniversary, we had reservations at a fancy Italian restaurant. I had a new dress, killer heels, etc. and was SO excited for a night out. Unfortunately, the big man around town, Mr. Norovirus, wanted to date me that night instead. I always tell people that the most beloved anniversary gift I’ve ever received was Tiffany earrings, a red rose, a bottle of Pedialyte and some ginger ale. Ahh, romance! ;)
Beautiful meal, and beautiful message!!
Wow – this is gorgeous. I love the imperfect, perfect day. :)
Your pasta dishes always look so lovely. Makes me jealous that I always intend to make nice sit down dinners but then decide something faster suits me more.. lol
This is too funny…lately I’ve been making kale pesto + red sauce and topping them both on our pasta or grain or veggie burgers. We love the contrast of both sauces and this looks like you’ve combined them together! Deeelicious! :)
We had our first all vegan Valentine’s night meal, cooked at home. Perfect!
sounds lovely!
This pasta dish looks delicious!
My husband and I do (and did) the same thing!!! Taking the pressure off of the “perfect” Valentine’s Day is such a relief– and SO much more fun!
This looks great! I’ve been experimenting with pestos lately too!
Must. Make. This. Soon. Now how to convince my boyfriend that the texture will be fine? (he’s a texture person).
Your Vday logic makes sense…we love the imperfections in our partners, so why would we expect that day to be perfect? Imperfections are just as lovely.
This looks so hearty and delicious. Love it!
I’d rather have homemade tomato sauce than a half-dead bouquet of roses any day. I am going to invest in a bamboo cutting board, your prep photos always look fantastic! My ancient, hacked up board needs an upgrade.
I LOVED your lentil walnut burgers and now I have a slight walnut obsession :) This looks delicious!
Hey Angela, this looks sooooo goood!! :)
Just quick question, if I do not have nutritional yeast at hand, how much parmesan cheese should I be using?
I swear, you must read my mind! I bought a can of crushed tomatoes last week while grocery shopping and could not for the life of me remember what recipe I was going to use it in. And then you post this! And now the can is saved from being in my pantry for months and months, pushed back behind tomato paste and navy beans.
haha I always do that!