Thank You! And the Menu for the Reception

Thank you, all of you, for your wonderful soup suggestions. After reading so many thumbs-up for a tomato-basil soup, that is what I decided to go with. I make a pretty good tomato soup using canned tomato products, and right now, I happen to have canned tomato paste and canned whole tomatoes in stock. I'll use a combination of dried and fresh basil (I only have a small amount of fresh basil right now). In addition, I picked up some short grissini (breadsticks)  and shaved Parmesan cheese for the cups of soup. I think this will work out well and add another dimension to the reception.

Okay, so here's the full menu:

Tomato-basil soup (in the crockpot), served in cups, with breadsticks and Parmesan

3 kinds of sandwiches

• ham, Swiss, and Dijon on homemade sliced French bread
• shrimp and pasta salad in homemade cream puffs
• chicken salad with homemade cranberry sauce on mini croissants

A large bowl of potato salad

3 kinds of hot appetizers

• mini veggie egg rolls (frozen item - Walmart)
• spanakopita (frozen item - Fred Meyer)
• smoked sausage and tater-tot kabobs on toothpicks

A tray of homemade hummus and crackers (Dollar Tree)

A veggie and dip tray

The dessert buffet will have:

Mixed nuts

Boxed chocolates

A platter of meringue cookies

Homemade carrot sheet cake

A big jar of jelly beans (bought on clearance priced at 3 bags for 50 cents)

chocolate fondue in a mini crockpot, with plain tea biscuits, whole strawberries, marshmallows, orange segments, and pretzel sticks for dipping

Lilac lemonade and water for beverages. I was going to add a tea, but now with the soup using up the cups and crockpot, I'll skip tea. 

Two days before, I'll make the hummus and prepare a veggie tray. I'll be able to make the chicken salad, potato salad, and tomato-basil soup the day before. The morning of the reception, I can make the shrimp salad, assemble all of the sandwiches, and frost the cake (already baked and in the freezer). 

I think that there is enough variety that anyone with dietary restrictions should still be able to find a lot that they can eat. Any suggestions?