Dried Green Pumpkin Chips

The other day I found one of my bigger Howden pumpkins had been broken off the vine by the dogs. It's a decent sized pumpkin and I didn't want to waste it, but really wasn't sure what to do with a very green pumpkin. I know there is green pumpkin pie, I have read the Little House books, but I didn't want to bake. It's around 100F here and I really try to avoid turning on the oven. So I thought about it for a bit. I know people make chips from zucchini and cucumber and I've wanted to try some but I am apparently the only person in the world who cannot grow zucchini. Who knew? Anyway, green pumpkin is supposed to be very bland, as are those veggies, so I thought I'd give the chip thing a try since I had this thing laying around. I must say, it didn't turn out too bad!

Here's what I started with. Still very green!

 I cut it up and ran it through the food processor.

 I looked at several recipes online and most said to oil the chips, put them in the dehydrator and then sprinkle on the seasoning. I did that with the barbecue flavor, but just put seasonings and everything in the sour cream and onion batch.

 Here's my really stinking old, hand-me-down dehydrator. This thing has bushings or bearing or whatever they're called going out and it squeals like nobody's business, but it still mostly works.

 And here are the finished products. Sour cream and onion (which really tastes more like lots of garlic with a bit of dill) and barbecue flavor. Both are ok in my book and awesome in the kids' books. These two batches were 8 cups of pumpkin and I still have plenty left. I think I am going to try a batch using the Brady Street Seasoning from Penzey's (awesome stuff on popcorn) and then maybe a batch of just the usual seasoning salt that I use. I really like this whole idea, just need to find a seasoning that I really like.

Anyway, if you ever end up with a green pumpkin and don't want to make pie, here's another option.