Mother's Best cookbook (Taunton Press)

Nothing helps in your Thanksgiving meal planning like browsing a good cookbook. Even if you stick to tradition and prepare many of the same dishes year after year, adding a few new side dishes and holiday desserts keeps your table interesting.

This year, five hot-off-the-press cookbook releases are ready to assist you in your 2009 holiday planning. From gourmet delights to comfort food classics, each one of these new releases is a recommended pick for bringing new ideas to the bounty of your Thanksgiving feast.

Which cookbook will make your Thanksgiving one to remember?

Mother's Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again by Lisa Schroeder and Danielle Centoni
Release date: November 17, 2009
Hardcover 28.00

You know a cookbook is serious about comfort food when it has an entire chapter devoted to macaroni and cheese recipes, including a Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Mac & Cheese and a Mac & Cheese Cordon Bleu. It's the dessert section that makes this homestyle cookbook an idea-generator for Thanksgiving, though: Winter Chocolate Bread Pudding, Coconut Cream Pie, and Mother's Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Pie would bring temptation to anyone's table.

Stonewall Kitchen cookbook (Chronicle Books)

New Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan
Release date: Oct. 7, 2009
Hardcover 24.95

Oregon cooking teacher and food writer Diane Morgan's New Thanksgiving Table is steeped in the classics, but offers subtle twists on the dishes your family loves with recipes like Bourbon Pecan Pie with Buttermilk Whipped Cream, Deviled Eggs with Capers and Smoked Salmon and Cranberry Salsa. Morgan's comprehensive Thanksgiving cookbook covers everything from side dishes to the bread basket, and she thoughtfully includes a whole chapter on what to do with those turkey leftovers.

Stonewall Kitchen Winter Celebrations: Special Recipes for Family and Friends by Jonathan King, Jim Stott and Kathy Gunst
Release date: Sept. 16, 2009
Hardcover 19.95

Those who hate it when cookbooks don't have an accompanying photo to a recipe will find plenty to lust over in Stonewall Kitchen's just-for-winter cookbook. Every single dish is photo-illustrated to drool-worthy effect. With recipes like Lobster Stew with Saffron Cream, Holiday Ham with Maple Syrup-Clove Marmalade Glaze, and Thin Green Beans with Brown Butter and Roasted chestnuts, you'll find plenty of inspiration for your Thanksgiving menu.

Blackberry Farm cookbook (Clarkson Potter)

Gourmet Today: More than 1,000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen by Ruth Reichl
Release date: Sept. 22, 2009
Hardcover 40.00

While this cookbook isn't specifically just for the holidays, its comprehensiveness more than makes up for it. Edited by Ruth Reichl of the cut-down-before-its-time Gourmet Magazine, Gourmet Today has over 1,000 tested recipes, including special menus for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everything you could ever need is here: vegetarian recipes, international recipes from all over the globe, classic favorites, and inventive modern dishes.

The Blackberry Farm Cookbook: Four Seasons of Great Food and the Good Life by Sam Beall and Molly O'Neill
Release date: Oct. 20, 2009
Hardcover 60.00
 

Chef Beall of the acclaimed Blackberry Inn in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee brings four seasons of recipes that use the homegrown ingredients the inn is famous for. Gorgeous photographs of the food and the farm make this a worthy choice for the armchair traveler as well as the holiday cook. Want to sample first? Amazon has the recipe for Blackberry Inn's rich and rustic Fig Tart.

Every Thanksgiving table can use one more side dish. Make it a Corn Pudding with ultra-fresh ingredients.

Add impact to your dessert table or place settings with one of these exquisite gourmet treats that won't require kitchen time.

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