Get your ingredients to make some pre-trick or treating soup!

Fill your family's bellies before trick or treating! This is filling and carries the theme of Halloween!

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

• 1 small sugar pumpkin, halved, seeds and stringy fibers removed and reserved
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
• 3 cups water
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 small parsnip (about 4 ounces), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 small Yukon gold potato (about 6 ounces), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 small turnip (about 4 ounces), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 small shallots, minced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon packed light-brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pumpkin halves, cut sides down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until soft, about 50 minutes. Scoop out flesh, and puree in a food processor (you should have 2 cups).
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add reserved seeds and fibers from pumpkin, and cook for 4 minutes. Add stock, water, and thyme, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 9 to 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt remaining 5 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pumpkin puree, parsnip, potato, and turnip, and cook for 5 minutes. Add shallots, and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add wine, and cook until liquid has reduced by half.
4. Strain pumpkin-seed mixture, reserving broth and discarding solids. Add broth to pumpkin-wine mixture. Bring to a simmer; cook 20 minutes. Let cool.
5. Pass soup through a food mill into a clean saucepan, or puree in a food processor in small batches until smooth. (If soup does not reach desired consistency using a food processor, press it through a fine sieve to remove any remaining lumps.) Heat soup in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in cream, sugar, salt, and pepper, and serve. Read more at Marthastewart.com: Harvest Pumpkin Soup - Martha Stewart Recipes 

So, while I was thinking about what to feed my toddler before she is handed 5 pounds of sugar late at night, I read about this fabulous idea! My facebook friend, who is married to a dentist put out the fabulous idea of the "candy fairy" or "candy banshee". So, I did some thinking!

Surely, you've heard of the Candy Banshee, right? She runs in the same circles as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, and her job is to help kids avoid eating too much Halloween candy after a long night of trick or treating through the neighborhood. 

Mamastarfish recently wrote about the Candy Banshee in the All Things Autumn... group. She started this tradition with her daughters in which they would give the Candy Banshee their Halloween candy in exchange for toys. And so far, it's worked!

"The Candy Banshee is a fairy who needs to stock up on candy and live off of it for the whole year. She has special teeth and does not get cavities like us humans.

Children save only a small pile of their favorite candy and put the rest (the bulk of it) on the dining room table (or common area table) on the night of Halloween. Then the children call for the Candy Banshee to come and take her candy and leave a toy in its place.

Other ideas to filter out the candy overload:

Use the extra candy as a sharing lesson and donate the gift of candy to their doctor, elderly neighbors, or troops oversees.

Freeze candy and ration it out over the year for bribery! I am famous for always having a lollipop in my purse for dire toddler situations. I know, not proper parenting, but sometimes you have to do what works!