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Hate that you have buckets of Halloween candy, but feel guilty about throwing it in the trash? Here’s some ideas for what to do with your Halloween stash.

1.  Last year I suggested you make Candy Bar Smoothies or Candy Bar Stuffed Baked Applies in Trick or treat - what to do with all that leftover candy.
2. Call your local food bank and see if they’ll take it. While we can all agree candy is hardly nutritious, everyone likes a treat once in awhile.
3. CDKitchen has some great ideas like Butterfinger Trifle
4. Squidoo’s ideas for leftover candy are Apple Candy Bar Salad, Butterfinger Layer Cake, Candy Bar Cookies, and Homemade Fudge. Can’t you feel your rear end getting bigger by the second?
5. Parenthood.com has 10 ideas of their own. I love the idea of freezing it and then saving it to use on gingerbread houses at Christmas.
6. Anyone you know hosting a birthday party? Donate it for goodie bags. Or save it for your child’s next holiday party at school.
7. Families.com suggests chopping up the candy and combining it with ice cream for an ice cream pie. Why not use the candy as a “mix in” like at those fancy ice cream shops. Make sure the ice cream is a little bit melted - zapping it in the microwave for 10 seconds helps - before trying it out.
8. Lela Davidson at HubPages suggest sending the candy to soldiers in Iraq. Have the kids send some homemade cards and pictures along with your gift. Another idea is contacting your local military base or VA hospital and ask if you can make wounded vets some candy goodie bags.
9. Bring it to work (or send it with your spouse to work). The office vultures will take care of it in no time.
10. The Portsmouth Herald has a list of suggestions and recipes. I really like this one for Milky Way Pain Au Chocolat.

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With two days to “H-Day” you’re probably busy with costumes and running out for a few bags of candy. In case you’re looking for last minute cookies that will impress both kids and adults, try these from Food & Wine magazine.

They’re more like small cakes than cookies, and will be a nice treat with a cup of tea after the lil’ goblins have gone to bed.

Black-and-Orange Cookies
Makes about three dozen 4″ cookies

Get the kids to help you out. I’m sure school-aged kids can help spread the black and orange icing, too.

Ingredients (cookies):

1. 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
2. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6. 3/4 cup sugar
7. 2 large eggs, at room temperature
8. 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
9. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10. 2 teaspoons milk

Ingredients (icing):

1. 2 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2. 1/4 cup boiling water
3. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4. Orange food coloring, or red and yellow combined
5. 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions (cookies):

1. Preheat the oven to 350°; position 2 racks in the upper and middle thirds of the oven. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt onto a large sheet of wax paper. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in the vanilla and milk. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.
3. Spoon rounded tablespoons of the batter onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, until the centers spring back when lightly pressed. Be careful not to let the cookies brown or overbake, or they will be dry. Transfer the cookies, flat-side up, to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Directions (icing):

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the boiling water until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and a few drops of food coloring and whisk until the icing is evenly colored. Using a small offset spatula, spread the orange-colored icing over half of the flat side of each cookie.
2. In a microwave oven, melt the chocolate in a small bowl. Stir the chocolate into the remaining orange icing. Spread the chocolate icing on the other half of each cookie and let stand until set, about 15 minutes. (If the icing becomes too thick, add hot water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and shiny.)
3. The black-and-orange cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

What would Halloween be without black cats? One of my favorite literary felines is Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty, a very naughty kitty who stars in a hilarious alphabet book. When I came across the sequel, Poor Puppy, at our recent Scholastic book fair, I had to bring the book home.

Poor Puppy features a happy-go-lucky puppy who wants to play with Bad Kitty. Bad Kitty is a smart feline, and stays out of the way while Poor Puppy destroys the house. Again, Bruel gives us a wonderful ABC book but this time includes numbers 1-26.

Kids ages three to eight will enjoy Poor Puppy and Bad Kitty’s antics. And parents will be scared silly by the destruction these two manage to cause. Who knew an ABC book could be a cautionary tale?

C is for Cupcake

Now let’s count how many fall pumpkin cupcakes we can make…and eat!

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I recently came across The School Secretary from the Black Lagoon at our school’s Scholastic Book Fair. I had to laugh as a few of the school secretaries are my friends. Most of them aren’t scary like in the book, though I think some PARENTS would disagree with me.

(Really, most school secretaries are nice. Their offices are NOT the “room of doom.” They’re just a little grumpy. I would be too if I had to deal with all those kids and the principal. Eesh!)

The Black Lagoon series of books by Mike Thaler are perfect for Halloween time, especially for kids ages seven to nine who like to complain about the “awful” school nurse, teacher, principal, vice principal, custodian, substitute, bus driver, cafeteria lady, gym teacher, music teacher, etc.

Visit Mike’s website to see what new books are coming out. He also has the Black Lagoon Adventures series of chapter books for more advanced readers.

Now for a pumpkin recipe from The Pumpkin Nook. Pumpkin Pie Fudge anyone? (IT’S AWESOME!)

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Halloween is a time when children (and some adults - you know who you are!) let their imaginations run wild. A book that reminds me of this is What Eddie Can Do by Wilfried Gebhard. Eddie is so busy exploring rain forests, traveling through space, and flying with birds that he doesn’t have time to tie his shoes.

Actually, he’s avoiding learning how to tie his sneakers, but finally conquers the “double-tailed monster” with the help of his mom.

In What Eddie Can Do, kids ages four to eight will appreciate Eddie’s vivid imagination. Parents will relate to all the ways Eddie will avoid something hard and slightly scary. All will like the step-by-step “how to tie your shoes” illustrations. (This title is available in Spanish as Lo Que Eduardo Sabe Hacer from Kane/Miller Book Publishers.)

Now how about a Jack-O-Lantern Smoothie courtesy of Horizon Organic?

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