Rice Cake Treat

Rice cakes never moved to fast in my kitchen. I always had a package, usually the unsalted brown rice kind just in case I got a case of the, "I'm so hungry I could eat liver." Lucky for me that didn't happen often.

Since I had a couple packages of the styrofoam-like food and puppy was constantly hungry, I decided to give her rice cakes as a treat. It worked. She loved them. Zoe devoured the pressed grain substance in a minute, maybe less, licking her chops afterward. Hmmm. It was just pressed rice and she was happy. I found a healthy snack for the dog. After all, didn't some dog foods contain rice. I think so.

Puppy wouldn't get the rice cake every day - it was a special treat like ice cream, if I would have given her ice cream.

I made small craft consisting of an empty plastic ice cream cup covered in tissue paper with a stick and a tissue paper flower attached when I realized I didn't have any foam to keep the flower upright in the small container. What to do? Rice cakes! Rice cakes were akin to styrofoam in my mind. I broke a few pieces and shoved them into the ice cream container. Then I stuck the flower in the center and wrapped the bottom with tissue paper and secured the decoration with rafia, a tough fibrous substance. It was adorable. I made several of the flowers and put them downstairs for an event I was planning. The flowers sat on top of an 18 gallon plastic tub - safe and secure. I left Zoe to watch the house as I went to gather more items for the event from the store.

When I returned, about two hours later, there was light green tissue paper strewn about on the family room floor. Then I found the tissue paper flower and next to it the empty plastic ice cream cup. No rice cake in sight.

The little stinker had gone down the basement, chosen a flower and brought it back upstairs to devour its contents - the flavorful rice cake. The "styrofoam" in my project.

Zoe did this not once but several times. She would find the rice cake in the flower decoration no matter where I placed it. I can only think that she thought it was a food puzzle.

I purchased a plastic toy and inserted kibble inside that dog could knock about and it would release a treat the more it was bantered around. Who knew that my flower decoration was in a reality a food puzzle.