With the turning of the season and the arrival of Fall this marks a time when many cooks return to making meals in the kitchen after a long summer of grilling and barbeques. Whether you're a beginner or actually know what you're doing in the kitchen, we hope some of the books that follow will help inspire you and make meal time an interesting part of your day. 

(Click on the book cover or title to link to library holdings information.)

Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again
By Ina Garten

This is the fifth cookbook by the popular Food Network chef and it's as well done as her previous books. Her books not only feature interesting and varied recipes, but they're accompanied by beautiful photographs and advice about entertaining friends and family in a relaxed and gracious setting. The recipes are fairly straightforward and include ingredients that are found in most kitchen cupboards. There are plenty of recipes to choose from for the chilly days to come.
 

Easy Entertaining: Over 250 Stress-Free Recipes and Sensational Styling Ideas
By Darina Allen

Darina Allen may be a new name to many but she is Ireland's foremost contribution to the international cooking scene. She was the winner of the International Association of Culinary Professional's "Cooking Teacher of the Year" award in 2005. Easy Entertaining offers up an array of both hearty and light fare with an interesting and original combination of foods and ingredients. Whether you're looking for new ideas for appetizers or fresh ideas for meals for the younger set you might find what you're looking for among these recipes. And with 250 to choose from you definitely won't go hungry.
 

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
By Amy Sedaris

This book is the "wild card" when it comes to new choices of titles about cooking and entertaining. As the author spells out in her introduction, when we invite folks to our homes for a dinner or other special occasion we're expressing in so many words that we do in fact like them. We want them to feel welcome in our homes. Amy shares many of her family recipes and ideas for entertaining in a way that only she can with humor and thrown together with questionable taste and manners. Not your traditional tome on entertaining and probably the polar opposite of Martha Stewart.
 

Saving Dinner Basics: How to Cook Even if You Don't Know How
By Leanne Ely

Leanne Ely is the writer behind The Dinner Diva, a syndicated food column, and she's also a certified nutritionist. Her book won't "wow" you with elaborate photo shoots of highly-styled foods but it will tell you how to stock your kitchen with the necessary utensils and tools, what spices to keep in the cupboards, and basic instructions about food preparation.
 

Betty Crocker Why it Works: Insider Secrets to Great Food
By the Editors at Betty Crocker and Kevin Ryan, Ph.D.

This book offers a pleasing variety of familiar recipes and American favorites that readers have come to know and appreciate from Betty Crocker. Kevin Ryan does a wonderful job at explaining some interesting secrets behind what makes a recipe work and the chemistry involved in cooking in the "Recipe Rx" sections. Ryan explains the how and the why behind making recipes turn out their best every time. There are plenty of photographs featured as well. Be sure to check out the recipe for "Better-than-the-Mall Cinnamon Rolls" on page 28.

The Hershey, Pennsylvania Cookbook: Fun Treats and Trivia from the Chocolate Capital of the World
By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey

Now it's time for the dessert course! This delightful book is filled with interesting trivia and facts about the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania most commonly known as Chocolate Town, USA. It's filled with vintage photographs that capture the beginnings of the Hershey Company and its founder, Milton Hershey, and his dedication to providing an education for orphans at the Hershey School. As the book confirms in one of its chapters, it is indeed possible to have chocolate for dinner.