Getting settled

  We're a bit more settled in now.  About 1/3 unpacked and the other house is all cleaned and ready for a final clearing (or I'll just be paying the $200 for someone else to clean it because it was rough with two kids and no help except one day with my parents.  They would have helped more, but they were here to visit and I didn't want to have them cleaning my old house).  My husband wants to do a housewarming party - which means 1 party with 30+ people or two parties with about 16/14 split.  We bought a small house so I'm thinking the two parties is more reasonable for that.  With that in mind, I need to buy food!  So we're doing healthy, moral eating for a party.  I'm sure you're excited.  Well, I hope you're at least interested.
  I'm planning on doing 2 appetizers, a salad, a soup, a main dish, at least two sides, a dessert, and we can't forget beverages.  The next step is to figure out what type of food I want to do.  I'm thinking one party will be Greek and the other Italian.  Both are easy to be healthy and reasonably priced.  We have soda leftover from moving, so at least part of the drinks are taken care of.  I'll make flavored ice tea (I have ridiculous quantities of flavored teas from my time in Germany - but honestly, the cost of a good tea to brew for iced tea isn't bad.  I hot brew so I simply over brew and make a really strong tea with only one bag/1 teaspoon of loose tea and fill up a 2 quart pitcher - so that $5-7 for a few tea bags will cost you far less than a 12 pack of soda any day).  Depending on if I stay in or below budget, we may get a little booze friendly.
  In general, I don't have to worry about buying any spices a recipe calls for because I have crazy spices sitting in my drawers, everything from black salt to fenugreek.  I pick them up here and there as I have the budget.  My budget for both parties is $100, including a cheap bottle of booze to snazzy up.

Greek Menu ideas:
  Appetizers:
 - roasted red pepper and feta dip
 - eggplant and parsley dip (replace parsley with cilantro)
 - greek crostoni
 - cucumber feta rolls
I have a great recipe for faux feta from tofu somewhere, I'll definitely need to find it!  Also, I'll make the crostoni topping to spoon on and use crostoni pieces for dipping and topping.  Smart, right?  I have a cute tray with matching bowls that I can put to good use.
  Salad:
 - tomato and onion salad
 - orzo salad
 - dressing for a standard salad
  Soup:
 - gigantes (mine always ends up soupy because I'm lazy and make it in a crock pot)
  Main Dish:
 - stuffed tomatoes and peppers
 - imam
 - souvlaki (I figure one meat dish for the omni's)
  Sides:
 - greek potatoes
 - pita (looking for a good recipe)
  Dessert:
 - I'm hoping to do something other than baklava, I'm searching for that too. 

  I'll post my ideas for an Italian dinner tomorrow.