dinner, honestly.

Tonight was a bit overkill. The husband's gone and it was either all or nothing. Translation: Cereal or a full-blown dinner. I needed something substantial and healthy so I went for the latter.

So for me, and four kids under ten I made Smoky Eggplant and Red Pepper Pate on water crackers, Penne Puttanesca and a green salad. Needless to say we had a bit leftover. And the kids weren't impressed nearly enough.

All recipes came from Low-Fat Moosewood and I'll definitely be making the Puttanesca again. It was lovely: a thick, chunky tomato sauce with kalamatas and capers and little red pepper flakes. (Confession Time. I am not a lover of whole wheat penne. It was too heavy. I'll try another brand to see if it's the brand, but if it's just like HEB's store brand which I used tonight, I'm downgrading to white penne again. Hang my health.)

The pate was good but it could have been better. I'm going to have to tweak it a little since it was a bit bland.

The salad was salad. (And I like salad.)