Sunday, July 13, 2008

Suggestions, please

My good friend Cindy called today to offer me a job in her new store. Cindy owns the natural parenting store where I am currently working on Saturdays. In September she'll be moving to a new, much larger location. Her new store, in addition to selling cloth diapers, baby carriers, and such, will also have a play area for kids and a small kitchenette for preparing food. My job (and I accepted eagerly) will be to manage the entire food-side of the the store. So, in the next few weeks I need to develop a menu, and that's where I need suggestions. The requirements are these:

-food must be healthy, vegetarian fare
-the only cooking appliances I will have are a blender, microwave, panini press and the like (no oven or range)
-many of the customers we have are small children so I want some items that are particularly targeted to children (small containers of edible playdough is one idea, so far). Anything that can be presented in an appealing (but easy to prepare) way is great. Also, kids like to dip things, so dip-able food is another good way to go.
-I am planning several different salads, all with homemade dressing. Anyone have great dressing recipes?

My brain is full of a million ideas, but I keep getting stuck on not having a stove. Anyone out there still reading my blog, suggestions are greatly appreciated.