Little Rolls Of Pumpkin Goodness

This weekend I'll be attending the statewide business meeting of a group I'm involved in.  I know from past experience with these meetings that there will be a lot of sitting around, and a lot of (non-healthy) eating. To combat the bad diet choices I knew I'd be making I wanted to bring some healthy things to snack on.

Yesterday I started my plan of attack, filling baggies with dried fruit and nuts.  I also wanted to bring vegetable sticks, but when I opened the produce drawer in the refrigerator there wasn't much there.  I didn't particularly want to go to the grocery store, so I figured I'd have to be creative.  The one thing I did have plenty of was pumpkin puree, but that would be hard to eat on the go.  I wondered if I could use my food dehydrator to make pumpkin leather.

Rolls of pumpkin goodness ready to be eaten

After looking at a couple of recipes online I realized the process was doable and pretty easy.  A bag of pumpkin contained two cups.  I combined the puree with a generous squirt of honey (about two teaspoons), three big shakes of cinnamon (about a teaspoon) and a shake of nutmeg (about 1/2 of a teaspoon), mixed everything together, and spread it on the dehydrator fruit leather tray.  I set the dehydrator temperature to 135˚ and walked away.  When I checked four hours later most of the tray was dry and pliable.  There were a  couple of damp spots at the center edge where the puree had been spread a little too thick, but I decided to cut those off, eat them immediately, and call the job done.

The USDA says a serving of vegetables is a half cup, so I cut the leather into quarters and rolled each into a log.  I slid a couple into a bag and set the bag with my food stash.  I'm pretty sure they won't make it back home.

Five years ago today: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Who's Got The Pumpkin?