Candy Bar Blondies

First food post since baby Peyton arrived! It feels nice to have fit a hobby into my new "mom" schedule. Granted, I chose a day when Dan is also home so I could have 30 minutes in the kitchen, but I feel accomplished nonetheless.

With Halloween a week away, this a great recipe to feature. If you end up with leftover candy, or perhaps you want to thin out your kids' stash, this recipe is for you. We live on a main road, so we don't get and trick-or-treaters. I had to buy a bag of mixed candy to use in this recipe. I chose not to use the Almond Joys in the bag, and Dan doesn't eat them, so I have to find a way to use those up next. Everything else you need for this recipe you should already have in your pantry. The great thing is, you can add whatever you want to these blondies. Don't have candy bars? Use chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped up caramels, whatever you desire.

The original recipe says to bake for 25 minutes, and the center should still be jiggly. I baked mine for 22 and they are slightly over cooked, as the middle was fully cooked and golden brown. They were still soft, but not as soft as I was hoping for. Surprisingly, I thought the Reese's I placed on top of the bars would have melted, but they retained their shape. Next time, I will cook them a little less so they have that really soft, chewy texture I was hoping for. Also, there seemed like barely enough batter/dough to cover a 9x13" pan. The dough is very sticky, so spray your hands or spatula with cooking spray to help spread it out without it sticking to you.

Candy Bar Blondies
slightly adapted from Crazy for Crust

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 stick butter*, softened
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 cup candy bar pieces
Extra candy pieces for the top

*I used unsalted butter and just upped the salt a little, maybe an extra 1/4 teaspoon or so.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. You could make thicker ones if you want to use a smaller pan.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the brown sugar and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
3. Add the baking powder, salt and flour and mix to combine. Add 1 cup of candy pieces and stir in.
4. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.
5. Top with a few more pieces of candy, pushing them into the batter.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Be sure to check them. The middle should still be a little jiggly as they will continue to cook a bit and firm out after you remove them from the oven.
7. Let cool completely, remove from pan, and cut into squares.

The Pregnancy Post

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT FOOD. IT IS ABOUT MY NINE MONTHS BEING PREGNANT AND THE SYMPTOMS I EXPERIENCED. IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR RECIPES THIS ISN'T THE POST FOR YOU. IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO FIND OUT SOME MAYBE TMI STUFF ABOUT ME AND MY PREGNANT BODY, AND PERHAPS WANT TO FEEL AWKWARD ABOUT MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH ME NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME AFTER READING THIS, THEN READ AWAY. CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING.

So, let me start this post by saying compared to what I have heard from moms and read, I had a very easy and enjoyable pregnancy. These symptoms and experiences are my own, and can vary. I know I was pretty lucky compared to what some women go through in their pregnancies.

Where does this story begin? Well it begins with conception, but I'm not going to blog about that. If you don't know how babies are made perhaps you should be googling that instead of reading this blog post. I will begin this with Superbowl weekend. It started on Saturday, with a lunch outing with my girlfriends and bridesmaids dress shopping for my best friend's wedding. We had martinis and oysters and raw tuna and all the good stuff I truly enjoy in life. We made jokes about when Dan and I would get pregnant, and how soon the bride-to-be would get pregnant after her wedding. My response was it'll happen when it happens. Mind you, I had been married just under 4 months. Then, it was Superbowl Sunday. Dan tended bar during the day and met me at our friends' house for the game. We drank many Bud Lights (more than usual because I already knew I had a snow day from school the next day) and celebrated one of the greatest Patriots games I've ever witnessed. At the end of the night, Dan and I got into conversation with our friends about babies, because they have two daughters, and my friend and Dan making bets that I was already pregnant.

Why would they be making bets? I had mentioned that since coming off of birth control I had terrible acne and my boobs were sore. That my hormones were regulating themselves from being off the pill. My friend said the boobs were a dead giveaway that I was pregnant. Yeah....right. I headed home and Dan showed up shortly after to tell me they all agreed I was pregnant (meaning my friends spent another 20 minutes talking about my boob pains....) and that I should take a pregnancy test in the morning. I told him not to get his hopes up. I had taken one a month before and wasn't pregnant that time either, it was just crazy hormones and he would be let down. But, to amuse him, I would. Cut to the next morning and we lucked out when Dan also didn't have to work due to the blizzard. We had a snow day together! At 8:30 in the morning I trotted off to the bathroom to pee on the stick.

Now, if you've never taken a pregnancy test or don't know how one works, the digital one I had lights up these bars when you use it. The second you pee on it, a bar starts blinking, then it takes up to 3 minutes to get 4 blinking bars and then it will say "pregnant" or "not pregnant". My first test I took took 3 minutes to tell me I wasn't pregnant the month before. My plan was to pee, set it on the sink and check back in a few minutes. Well, the first bar lit up right away to let me know it was working. Within 15 seconds all the bars blinked and it said "pregnant". Uhhh, what?!?! I was so dead set, gut feeling, adamant that there was no way I'd be pregnant and everyone else was crazy. I was wrong.

I ran into the bedroom yelling Dan's name and hysterically crying. He thought someone was breaking into the house or someone had died. When he finally comprehended my hysteria we hugged and kissed and stared at the test. Then, we went back to sleep because sleeping in is a rarity and we were going to celebrate with all the good things, like sleeping in together. So, let's talk about pregnancy symptoms that I had for the following nine months.

Acne: I have blessed with pretty good skin my whole life. Maybe 4 times a year I get a nasty pimple on the end of my nose or smack in the middle of my chin letting everyone know it's there. Otherwise, I've always had decent clear skin. Well, my first sign was breaking out all over my chin with tons of little pimples that would just not go away. This happened a month before I found out about the baby, so you can get acne right from the get-go, and I did. I also was breaking out all over my chest, shoulders and back, which was something that never happened to me.

Boobs: Crazy stuff can happen to your boobs when you're pregnant. First, they get sore. Mine ached, would hurt when you even bumped into them, and felt heavy. I'm talking when I would take my bra off it felt like I had watermelons in each breast that were going to fall to the floor type of heavy. That's the only way I can describe it. "I carried a watermelon....?" I carried two, Baby...

Tailbone/Hip pains: These pains can occur at any time, at any intensity throughout the pregnancy. I thought I had moved my hip/tailbone weird when I was coaching cheerleading and it was randomly sore for two weeks. Turns out it was my body already preparing itself when I was about 3 weeks pregnant. Then, it occurred on and off throughout the pregnancy. In the last month, it obviously got worse as I got bigger and it was harder to move around comfortably.

Morning sickness: I never got this! In my first trimester, I needed to eat every 3 hours or so or I would get a little nauseous, which was especially tough when I had NO APPETITE. I either wanted cold fresh fruits and vegetables or nothing. It was tough goings until a few weeks into my second trimester when I could handle regular food again. The only things that made me sick my entire pregnancy was the smell of the trash one time, and a few times when food got stuck in the dishwasher or the dishes sat overnight. Which leads into...

Weight gain: Before I had weight gain, I had weight loss. Almost 10 pounds in my first trimester. With having no appetite and the baby taking all my calories and nutrients, I slimmed down quite a bit at first. Then I very, very slowly gained weight. I didn't gain most of my weight until just into my third trimester. So, I lost about 10 and maybe gained 22 (which includes gaining back the 10 I lost).

Appetite/Cravings: So the last bit sort of talked about my appetite. As for cravings, I never ever ate ice cream before I got pregnant. Seriously. Five bites of ice cream was enough to tide me over for weeks. I was eating full sundaes on an almost daily basis for many weeks. I also craved pickles and cheesecake (not together) and boxed mac and cheese. I did have an aversion to most poultry and meats for a long time. Not because of the taste, because of the texture. The feeling of chewing through meat made me nauseous.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: One night around 14 weeks, I went to bed around midnight. Twenty minutes into laying down my wrists and arms felt a little achy. I thought maybe I was laying on them funny and eventually fell asleep. Around 3 am, the pain woke me from my sleep. It was like a throbbing, annoying achiness that wasn't excruciating, but enough to provoke tears, which it did. I took some Tylenol (the only meds allowed that never worked for anything) and woke Dan up. Neither of us knew what to do so I just tried to go back to bed. By 8 am it was even worse, so my mom accompanied me to the ER to get checked out, because we didn't know that you can get carpal tunnel from being pregnant. In the ER they told me I had early onset carpal tunnel and gave me some wrist guards to wear. I called my OB and they said it was early for it to appear, but it will most likely get worse and more frequent later on when I start retaining more water and swelling. Well, guess what? I had one more day where I worse my wrist guard o the left hand and never experienced it again. Take that carpal tunnel!

Pubic bone pain: This one's an interesting one. At about 31 weeks, two hours after waking up I started to feel a general soreness in my pubic bone area. It quickly intensified to me having to slowly shuffle around because every time I took a step it sort of felt like someone was hitting the tip of my pubic bone with a hammer (fun!). I called the OB on this one and she said it was likely my pubic bones separating quicker than normal and that this was common, normal, and ranges from mild to excruciating. I could take some Tylenol (yet again, useless) and use an ice pack on it. The next day, same timing, two hours after waking up it occurred again, but very suddenly and crippling. I could step more than an inch at a time, or move my legs more than an inch apart without feeling like someone was sawing through my pubic bone with a chain saw. I made Dan bring me home ice packs and he had to help me get off the couch every time I had to pee, which was thankfully only every 45 minutes, or he could watch me move down the hallway at a snails pace in tears. This pain never came back until the last week of my pregnancy where it was mild.

Peeing: It goes without saying that pregnant women pee a lot. I had on and off days where some days I didn't pee all that often, and others I was peeing every 20 minutes.

Swelling: I only had swelling in my hands in my last week of pregnancy. Three days before I went into labor I had to finally remove my wedding ring because I was too afraid it would get stuck.

Braxton Hicks: So these "fake" contractions, or false or preparatory or whatever word people use for them can happen starting around 20 weeks. Not everyone gets them. I started getting them around 32 weeks or so and they were painless. It just felt like my stomach (uterus) would tighten up. Almost like the baby moving, but throughout my entire stomach.

Sleep: In the first trimester, when they tell you you will feel an exhaustion like you've never experienced before, they aren't joking. As someone who has had sleep issues since college and been prescribed meds to sleep due to insomnia and regular exhaustion, I can tell you, nothing compares to this. It's a metabolic exhaustion, like you've been running a marathon for 4 days and haven't slept in a year mixed together. Naps are the greatest. Weekends where you can sleep in is the greatest. Actually, those are great all the time, pregnant or not. I gained more energy in the second trimester and most of my third. Halfway through the third I got a little tired again, and then by 36-37 weeks I was back to needing a nap every couple of days. Sleeping at night comfortable ended around 15 weeks. Once I had enough of a bump and I couldn't sleep on my stomach it was all over. Sleeping on my stomach was one of things I missed the most about not being pregnant. I did have a maternity pillow that was a lifesaver, especially as I got bigger and more uncomfortable week by week. Also, getting up to pee every 30 minutes or every time you roll over or shift positions makes sleeping through the night impossible. I learned to sleep in 45 minutes shifts. It also took me HOURS to fall asleep most nights. Thank god for Netflix. Binge watching House and Criminal Minds was great, albeit pretty unhealthy...

Moodiness: I saved this for last. I don't think I was a hormonal monster, though maybe check with Dan on that one. I certainly had days where I was moody and irritable, but I recognized it ad kept it in check. What kind of things would bother me when I was pregnant? Well, being a pretty social couple Dan and I still attended every birthday, BBQ, fundraiser, wedding, we had going on. When I got tired and sore by the end of the night, I would get more irritated with people who were able to enjoy themselves with a beer. Or I would be irritated with people were very drunk and then wonder if I was like that when I wasn't pregnant. Luckily, Dan was super supportive with this and when I said I was ready to leave, he was on board. We maybe had two times where he was bummed we had to leave somewhere, but never complained to me even though I knew he wanted to stay. After a while, you do get tired with answering "How are you feeling?" or "Do you know what you're having?" followed by "Do you have names picked out?". Sometimes I wanted to wear a sign that said:

I feel pregnant.
We don't know what we're having.
Yes, we have names picked out. No, we won't share them with you.

But no question was more annoying than someone with a drink in their hand asking, "So, do you miss drinking?" or, "How much does it suck to not be able to drink?". Sometimes I missed drinking. I never cared that I couldn't drink, because I had the greatest reason in the world not to and I knew overall I was healthier, pregnant or not, for not drinking. But summer BBQs make you want a nice cold beer, so sometimes I missed drinking. Sometimes, I missed that I couldn't get a buzz on like my friends after a long week and just be silly. But it never truly bothered me to not drink. But, reminding a pregnant woman that she can't drink (while her body is going through all sorts of craziness) is just kind of obnoxious sometimes.

I waited to write this post until my pregnancy was over so I could go over all of my symptoms from start to finish. I made it to 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant before our little girl, Peyton Helena was born on October 3rd. The last week of symptoms will be chronicled in the next post, which will focus more on her being born and post partum goodness. Stay tuned for that one!

**I apologize for any typos that may be in this post. I am too tired/too busy staring at my baby to take the time to go back and scour this post for typos. Also, my 'n' key doesn't work half the time, so I'm sure there's some typos in there somewhere. It's amazing how many words, when spelled without the 'n', still make real words that spell check doesn't pick up....

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownie Pie

Two weeks back, as I was scrolling through Facebook, this recipe showed up. I browsed it quickly, saw how easy it was, and went to add it to my Pinterest. Of course, my phone is awful and won't let that happen, so I just make a mental note of the recipe and forget about it. That's mainly what being 9 months pregnant is all about...making mental notes and completely forgetting them...

Yes, I am now 9 months pregnant. I am due in 17 days. Seventeen! I know I haven't posted in over 2 months, but recipes have just taken a back seat to a busy summer and a tiring pregnancy. Dan has been making many of our dinners (so appreciated!) and we've been making recipes that are already featured in this here blog. Nothing exciting to report...

Anyways, the girls in Dan's family attempt to have a girl's night once a month. I think there's been three since we're all on different schedules and I've been to maybe one. I figured last night was one of my last chances, sans Baby, to attend a girls night. It's weird to think that from now on most of my events will require arranging childcare. Yikes. Again, anyways, this recipe is so easy that I figured I would throw it together for girl's night. Mid-September is a little too early for pumpkin for me usually (other than DD iced coffee!), and it was in the high 80's yesterday, but this pie is served chilled so I figured why not? Plus, it just sounded sooo good, and when you're pregnant, you don't argue with your appetite.

It wins every time.

Now, you can make this is homemade as you want by making your own pie crust and your own brownie mix and your own whipped topping, or you can keep it simple like the recipe and use some pre-made items. My only note for this that the pumpkin layer was a little thinner than I expected, perhaps try increasing that part of the recipe if you're a real pumpkin fiend. Also, I wish I had made some homemade whipped topping. This pie is so rich and fudgy with the brownie layer that homemade whipped topping would have been a better balance than the Cool Whip. Cool Whip is great, but definitely sweet. A fluffy homemade version would have made this all the more perfect.

This was seriously amazing though. The brownie layer ends up as a thick, but still gooey fudgy layer that sticks to the fork and every bite needs a glass of milk to go with it. Then you have the pumpkin cheesecake layer, adding in the bit of tart to balance out that chocolate sweetness, and to settle your pumpkin spice craving. The whipped topping rounds it all off with a flaky crust to make one small piece more than filling. Great for sharing! Yes, even the preggo says to share!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownie Pie
from Inside Bru Crew Life

1 refrigerated pie crust
1 box brownie mix
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, divided
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tbsp. flour
1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping

1. Preheat oven to 350. Roll out pie crust and place into a 9-inch glass pie plate.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the brownie mix, water, oil, and 1 egg and beat until combined. Spread into the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.
3. As the brownie layer bakes, in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the pumpkin and egg and beat again. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and flour and give a final mixing. Spread this layer on the brownie layer when it comes out of the oven. Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil if they stick out a lot to prevent from burning. My edges weren't really exposed so I didn't have to. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for an hour, then place in the refrigerator to completely cool.
5. Top with whipped topping and serve!

You can also sprinkle more cinnamon on top, chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings, etc. Have fun with it!

Before I post my photos, I'd like to remind everyone of my horrible pie crust skills. I don't do decorative pie crusts where you flute the edges and all the jazz. I also don't practice or attempt to make myself better at it either...so there's that...

Best Ever Meatloaf

I'm not so sure I should keep the title of "Best Ever". I have probably eaten 3 different meatloafs (loaves?) in my entire life....each one once. I am not a meatloaf person...unless you count the singer/actor, in which case, I'm a fan. I figured I'd give it a shot, since it's easy to make and I had two packs of ground beef to use. I just don't have enough comparison to really say this is the "best ever".

Let me start by saying that mixing the ingredients by hand is a must, and most of my ingredients were very cold! Just thought I'd give you a heads up. As I added my ingredients to the bowl, I ran my faucet to get warm water to rinse with while I mixed, and I'm glad I did. I left out the onions for this since Dan doesn't like them and I didn't have one anyways. I also had some wheat crackers instead of Ritz, and they worked just fine. It used just under a sleeve to make a cup of crumbs.

The topping/sauce is what makes this recipe, I think. I misread the directions, and added the sauce in the last 15 minutes of cooking, not halfway through. Halfway through would have been better. This is why you always read through the directions, twice, before starting your recipe. Dan is busy as usual, so I don't have his opinion on this yet as he will be heating his dinner up later, so I'm hoping he likes it. I served it with some mashed potatoes and steamed corn.

Best Ever Meatloaf
from Pip & Ebby

2 lbs. ground beef
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup buttery cracker crumbs (about 1 sleeve of crackers)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

For the topping:
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apricot preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. I a large bowl combine all ingredients for the meatloaf and mix by hand until well combined.
3. Press into the loaf pan. Place loaf pan on a baking sheet to catch any juice that may boil over and drip in the oven. Bake for 90 minutes. Halfway through, you will top with sauce.
4. To prepare the sauce, in a small bowl combined the sauce ingredients until well mixed. Pour half the sauce over the meatloaf halfway through cooking. Reserve the remainder for dipping.
5. Let the meatloaf sit for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Forgot to take a pic before I sliced it to check for doneness.

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Here's the other dish I brought to our monthly dinner at my grandmother's house. I just randomly threw it together with things I had around the house. It turned out pretty good and most of it went quickly. For the pesto, I used a mix from Tastefully Simple that I had (and finally used the last of). You could use prepared pesto or find a recipe to make your own. I had about 1/4 cup of it, which is all the pasta needed. It wasn't too overwhelming. I also added in just under a 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese to the pasta as well as I mixed everything together. I think this would be great as a cold pasta salad as well. Cold chicken sort of freaks me out, so I would substitute it with some cubed mozzarella or something if I were to serve it cold. Also, when I used the small jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil, I rinsed them quickly. I didn't need all that oil in the pasta, since the pesto had some with it.

Pesto Chicken Pasta

1 package any pasta you choose, I used Farfalle
1/4 cup prepared pesto
about 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieced
1 small jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil

1. Boil pasta and drain. Return to pot.
2. Add the chicken and tomatoes. Add the pesto and cheese and mix everything together until well mixed.

Boom, that's it! Easy peasy.

Lemon Parmesan Asparagus

Last night was our monthly family dinner at my grandmother's house. With temperatures in the 80s and the humidity being thick and nearly unbearable, you may wonder why I would choose to roast something. First, I have central air in my house, and second, I craved roasted asparagus. Cravings always win...

I bought two bundles of asparagus and one bundle was pretty large, so I chose to make one and save the other. I should have made both, the asparagus went faster than I had expected it to. This recipe is simple. It's slightly time consuming to dip each stalk in the egg mix and then in the bread crumbs, but 10 extra minutes is hardly time-consuming to me. I made the lemon vinaigrette that goes with this, but found it far too lemony for me. I don't think anyone else used it at dinner either. If you want to make it, click the link for the original recipe.

Tonight, I used the bundle of asparagus I saved and just roasted it with olive oil, sea salt and some cracked black pepper. That was my dinner...a bunch of asparagus. Pregnancy has created some pretty weird meals for me. I eat more smaller meals to prevent heartburn (good Lord, the heartburn!) and because most of the time I just crave one thing at a time a few hours apart. So in about an hour, I'll have dinner part 2, which will consist of who knows what. Maybe the semi-homemade ice cream cake in my freezer...

Lemon Parmesan Asparagus
from Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends snapped off, peeled if desired
2 eggs
2 tbsp. milk
salt and pepper
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 400 and grease a baking sheet.
2. In a shallow dish mix together the egg, milk, salt and pepper.
3. In a separate shallow dish, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese and lemon zest.
4. Working a few at a time, dip the asparagus stalks in the egg, then roll in the bread crumbs to coat. Place on the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until they come out fork tender.

Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Crescents

For anyone who follows my blog, you know that I love making food with crescent rolls. It's just such an easy ingredient to use and any recipe that uses it is just as easy. Dan and I just spent 4th of July weekend camping with friends at my family's hunting camp, so coming home and having to cook just seemed so tiring. I had written the ingredients really quick on a piece of paper weeks ago on a shopping list that I found on my coffee table yesterday. I don't remember the original source, but I just improvised with what I had. My list looked like this...

Chix. tenders
Ranch
Colby slices
Bacon
Crescent dough, cut into 4 squares

That's it. So I went off to the store with the rest of my list. I remembered that I had 2 extra cans of the seamless crescent roll dough in my fridge, so I grabbed one, just in case I wanted to make extra. Turns out, I did not remember using those cans 2 weeks ago for my Sloppy Joe Bake. Pregnancy brain strikes again. Luckily, Dan grabbed some for me. I also completely forgot to get the sliced Colby jack cheese. I also forgot we brought our bacon camping and used it.

Aye aye aye.

So, I improvised even more. Luckily I keep a pretty ridiculous stock of shredded cheese in the fridge. Seriously, as of Sunday I had a bag of shredded Swiss, 2 bags of shredded cheddar, a bag of shredded mozzarella and a bag of shredded pizza blend. Cheddar it was for these. I also had a bag of bacon bits in the cupboard, so all was well. Real slices of bacon would have been better, but oh well. And what did I serve as a side? Kraft mac & cheese. Not my healthiest pregnancy meal, but the baby can use a few extra calories, right???

Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Crescents
makes 8

2 cans seamless crescent dough
8 frozen pre-cooked chicken tenders
Ranch dressing
8 slices of bacon or bacon bits
8 slices of Colby jack cheese or shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with some foil for easy clean up.
2. Roll out your dough and cut into 4 rectangles.
3. Spread some ranch on each square. Place a slice of cheese on top, of sprinkle with shredded cheese. Top with a slice of bacon cut in half to make 2 pieces or some bacon bits.
4. Place a chicken tender on that and roll up the long way, making a seal with the edges.
5. Place seam side down on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining pieces.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is heated through. I baked mine for 20, then covered them with foil for the last 5 minutes to stop them from browning more. The dough will cook faster than the chicken.

Dan absolutely loved these, and they were so easy! My chicken tenders were rather large. If you use smaller ones, you could cut your dough into 6 pieces and make more. They would be great as party appetizers!