Weekly menu & picky kids

I like to make a weekly menu for our family's meals.

Lately, I've been slacking in this department.  During the summer, I would make a menu and then never follow it... it became more of a "guideline" or "group of ideas".... and some weeks I didn't even bother looking at my ideas.  I think it's because of the summer garden - you just never know what is going to be ripe from one week to the next.

Now that fall is here and the summer garden is officially dead (we even had snow last week for goodness' sake), I am ready to re-embark on my menu-making.

It's the season for hunkering down with warm, filling soups.  Fresh bread.  Roasts cooked all day long in the crockpot.  I love cooking winter foods.  The only problem is that one of my sons is so incredibly picky!  I honestly have just tried to ignore his pickiness for the most part - sometimes sneaking in pureed vegetables when I have a panicked moment that they are not getting enough healthy food.  (I do try to make him take a "no thank you bite" of each food, so at least he tries it.)

So, I'm going to try to continue ignoring his pickiness and make healthy, natural, delicious foods.  He is so picky he'll turn his nose up at practically everything anyway.... so why not make what I want and serve it?  Sidenote... Sometimes if I repeatedly serve something I can eventually get him to like it (canteloupe is one example).  I'm hoping this will hold true for most foods - that I'll continue to serve them and hopefully he'll eat healthy as an adult!

It is a bit annoying, however, when said picky child leaves the table after 5 minutes of whining and complaining... creating a huge disturbance which causes my other sons to leave the table to join in.  Then no one eats enough..... and I tend to get very, very angry when I find them rooting in the refrigerator 30 minutes after mealtime.  I honestly can feel myself turning red and ready to blow my top!  Sometimes I'll argue with him, other times I simply pretend I didn't see him getting into the fridge.

I do that a lot...... pretending I don't see things, turning my back.  I swear to you, it's the absolute only way that I can stay sane in this house of 3 little boys.

Anyway, back to my weekly menus.

I'm thinking of lots of soups & breads this week.

My fall garden at the farm is starting to ripen.  I have dozens upon dozens of turnips ready to pick.  I'm thinking of trying my potato soup recipe with some turnips added in.  Anyone have any other good turnip recipes?

Here's what I'm thinking for some meals:

-Potato & turnip soup with fresh whole wheat bread, canned peaches
-Creamy zucchini soup (you can use your frozen zucchini for this!), roasted chicken, ww garlic bread

-Chicken & dumplings, canned pears
-Whole wheat penne with meat sauce, green beans, applesauce
-Homemade pizza with ww crust, carmelized onions & peppers on the parents' half :-), oven fries, apple crisp


I've been meaning to post the zucchini soup recipe, my mother-in-law came up with it recently and it's so simple and delicious.  Watch for it soon...

Any other menu ideas or recipes you want to pass along?