Spatulatta.com Collie-flower Pups Every meal deserves a little salad. So what kind of salad would you see in a menu that pays tribute to dog? Well, a salad in the shape of a dog! Makes 4 - 6 Collie-flower Pups You'll need: 1 small head of cauliflower A bag of petite carrots 3 slices of cheese Olive bits Toothpicks Salad dressing A little adult help Equipment: A bone-shaped cookie cutter Kitchen shears or scissors A large spoon A large cutting board A cookie sheet A cooling rack Ask dad or whoever 's helping you to cut the cauliflower into "flowerettes." They will look like little white trees. Select 4 really small ones for the puffs on the dogs' tail. Select 4 of the largest for the dogs' chests. Now find 8 more medium sized ones for the dogs heads and their hind quarters. Hind quarters is the way you talk about the back half of a animal like a dog or a horse. Cut a toothpick in half. Match one of the big flowerettes with one of the medium flowerettes so that when the bottoms of the "trunks" are about the same size. You can trim them with the kitchen shears to make them match. Push the toothpick halfway into the base of the large flowerette and them push the base of the medium flowerette down on top of it. There you have your dog's body. Next, find a carrot that you can imgine will look like a dog's nose. Cut it in half and use the same toothpick technique to attach the cut end of the carrot to a medium flowerette on the lumping part. Depending on what angle you place the "nose" your dog will be either looking up, forward or down. Use another half toothpick to attach the base of the dog's head to the big end of the body. Cut the round end off one skinny carrot. This is your tail. Take about 1/3 of a toothpick this time and attach the puff to the tail. Attach the base of the tail to the smaller end of the body. Let it point straight up the way a happy dog's tail would! Now, pick out 4 carrots that are about the same length. If you have 2 thick ones and 2 thin ones, turn the thick ones into the back legs. Use half toothpicks to attach the legs to the body. Cut 2 teardrop shapes out of the cheese. These should be about 1 1/2 inches long and about 1 inch wide at the widest point. Cut tiny bits of toothpicks to attach the ears. We found that if you put the toothpicks into the head first you can gently hang the cheese on the toothpick. Putting the toothpick through the cheese first usually results in a torn ear. The finishing touches are the eyes and nose. We happened have a couple black-eye peas in the kitchen so we used those of the eyes but don't run out and get a whole bag just for that. A tiny bit of olive for the nose and two pieces for the eyes works just as well. Stick them on with cream cheese Place your pup on a plate with salad dressing for dipping. Admire him for a moment before pulling him apart to eat. Make sure you find all those toothpicks - there are 11 of them. So count them off before you bite down!