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Honey Apple Bundt Cake on a white cake plate with fall leaves and apple in background.

Honey Apple Bundt Cake with Honey Caramel Glaze

Vegetarian Stuffed Acorn Squash filled with a spiced quinoa mixture.

Stuffed Acorn Squash (Vegetarian)

Butternut Squash Shrimp & Grits! Flavorful shrimp are served atop creamy, cheesy butternut squash-infused grits. Down home & hearty with a seasonal twist, this dish is just what you'll crave on chilly days!

Butternut Squash Shrimp & Grits

Overhead shot of butternut squash soup in a small white pot.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Warm Spices

Marinated Zucchini & Tortellini Skewers! Looking for an easy appetizer to serve up at a party or bring along to a gathering? These incredibly simple skewers are just the thing! They're crowd-pleasing, easy to make and appealing to the eye, too! 

appetizers

Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad in a blue bowl.

salads

Overhead shot of Lemon Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts on a porcelain plate surrounded by lemons and a striped kitchen towel.

side dishes

Vanilla Bean Citrus Bars! A crisp, shortbread crust is topped with a layer of sweet, citrusy filling speckled with fragrant vanilla beans. These are the stuff of potluck dreams!

desserts

holidays & special occasions

Close up of Italian Knot Cookies on a white cake plate.

cookies

Hi, I’m Dianna!

Elevated Recipes. Effortless Entertaining.

Here at The Kitchen Prep, you’ll find approachable, seasonal recipes that are easy to make & impossible to forget! Everyday entertaining — elevated.

Meet Dianna
Honey-Coriander Oven Baked Chicken Wings piled onto a turquoise plate.

TRENDING

Honey Coriander Oven Baked Chicken Wings

Turkey and Chickpea Sliders with Dill Havarti. Game day burgers take a "Healthyish" turn with these tender protein-packed sliders. The chickpeas are undetectable, but melted Dill Havarti shines as a flavorful topping.

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Turkey and Chickpea Sliders with Dill Havarti

TRENDING

Cajun Shrimp Dip

More Appetizers

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The Fall Market Edit

Caramel Pear Butter in a small glass container with fall leaf in backgroud.

Caramel Pear Butter

Butternut Squash Caprese Salad

Pumpkin-Spiced Roasted Squash & Chickpea Salad! Need something a little different to serve alongside your holiday staples? This warm salad dish is sweet, savory and filled with the flavors and aromas of the holiday season!  Delicata squash is having a moment. I noticed its popularity on the rise last fall, and I've continued to see more and more people using it lately. I never jumped on the bandwagon last year, but when I started seeing them piled into pretty mounds at Trader Joe's at the start of autumn this year, I figured it couldn't hurt to toss a few in my cart and experiment with them at home. Now that I've cooked with them several times, I don't know why it took me so long to get on board! If you like squash but dread dealing with prepping it, then Delicata is the perfect variety for you. Unlike its tough-skinned counterparts, there is no need to peel Delicata squash which makes it a huge time saver. Since it's typically smaller than butternut squash and not quite as wide as an acorn squash, it's also much easier to chop, which I deeply appreciate since I can't tell you how many times I've feared for my digits. {This is also the reason butternut squash is one of the only vegetables I buy pre-chopped -- unharmed fingers are totally worth the convenience charge, if you ask me.} Anyway, I bought some Delicata squash a few weeks ago to serve as a side dish when I had my family over for dinner, and everyone raved about how I prepared it so much that I decided I'd work on a Thanksgiving-worthy recipe to share here using the gourd-du-jour. This Pumpkin-Spiced Delicata Squash & Chickpea Salad is what I came up with! I know I throw this phrase around a lot, but it is SO EASY to make, especially since that Delicata squash is so much less difficult than the other kinds. You just chop, drop and toss everything with a mixture of oil, maple syrup and seasoning {salt and pumpkin spice blend to be exact} on one sheet pan, and let the oven do the rest of the work. The maple syrup glazes both the squash and the chickpeas, caramelizing everything as it roasts, and makes them taste like candy. The pumpkin spice pairs like a a dream with the naturally sweet and creamy interior of the squash. Ugh. It's so good. If you want to simplify the prepping even further, you don't need to chop the squash into cubes if you don't want to -- it's fairly quick-cooking even when it's sliced in larger pieces. I thought the cubes worked well with the size of the chickpeas to make it easily "poppable", but you can chop it however you'd like. Finish it off by tossing in some pecans or pumpkin seeds, and maybe a handful of chopped greens for color and freshness, and you've got a new side dish for you Thanksgiving table that will be joining Delicata squash in the highest rankings of supermarket superlatives, taking the "Most Requested Side Dish" category every year. ;)

Pumpkin-Spiced Delicata Squash & Chickpea Salad

Apple Grilled Cheese with fig jam on a white plate.

Apple Grilled Cheese with Fig Jam

Easy Fall Entertaining

Pumpkin Crackers

Pumpkin Crackers

Orca Bean, Kale & Pumpkin Crostini

Savory Fall Crostini

The Fig 'n Cinn Cocktail! If you like simple bourbon cocktails, you might enjoy this spiced concoction, dressed in its fall best with the addition of figs, cinnamon and honey simple syrup. A delicious elixir for any autumn gathering!

Bourbon Fig Cocktail

An overhead shot of Pumpkin Mac & Cheese in a white baking dish.

Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Halloween Hosting

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Mousse

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Mousse Bites

Chocolate Whoopie Pies decorated like Frankenstein stacked on a mini cake plate.

Frankenstein Chocolate Whoopie Pie

Spooky Eyeball Sweet Rolls! Need something quick and easy to make for Halloween festivities? These ooey, gooey, no-bake sweet rolls come together quickly with the help of King's Hawaiian Dinner Rolls! Filled with raspberry jam and topped with a creamy glaze and gummy eyeballs, they'll become your family's favorite creepy treat! 

Spooky Eyeball Sweet Rolls

Orange and yellow pumpkin ravioli threaded onto bamboo skewers with mozzarella balls, black olives and fresh basil on a Halloween background.

Easy Halloween Ravioli Skewers

Recipe Staples

Balsamic vinaigrette in a small glass dish.

Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette in 5 Minutes

Baked quinoa in a white bowl.

Baked Quinoa

San Marzano Tomato Sauce

Close up of flaky texture after cooking salmon in air fryer.

Air Fryer Salmon

Trending (But Always Classic)

A silver spoon scooping a serving of Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole from a white casserole dish.

TRENDING

Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

A variety of No Spread Sugar Cookies on a cooling rack, with one being lifted by a cookie spatula.

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No Spread Sugar Cookies

A large skillet filled with Creamy Mushroom & Chicken Sausage Florentine Pasta with a yellow and white striped dish towel underneath.

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Creamy Mushroom & Chicken Sausage Florentine Pasta

Honey-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates! Sweet, sticky dates are stuffed full of honey-sweetened, cinnamon-spiced cream cheese, then rolled in crunchy roasted pecans. A perfect snack or appetizer to prepare last minute holiday entertaining! 

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Honey-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates

Close up of Italian Knot Cookies on a white cake plate.

TRENDING

Italian Knot Cookies

Lifting a scoop of Irish Cheddar & Cabbage Hash Browns out of a cast iron skillet.

TRENDING

Irish Cheddar & Cabbage Hash Brown Skillet

Benedictine Spread for Kentucky Derby in a white bowl with a piece of pumpernickel toast in the foreground slathered with spread.

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Kentucky Derby Benedictine Spread

Polish Chrusciki or Faworki dusted with powdered sugar on a white plate.

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Chrusciki

TRENDING

Chocolate, Caramel, Marshmallow, Whiskey & Bacon Bark

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