What’s Cooking This Thanksgiving? A Smorgasbord!

A break from her Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter series featuring, Stephanie Plum, Evanovich harkens back to her beginnings as a romance novelist. In this romantic comedy aptly titled Thanksgiving, the main character falls in love with a doctor and they come together under some very unusual circumstances that involves a rabbit and a dress. You’ll have to read it to find out how it ends (hint: it’s a happy ending). This quick read promises to make you laugh out loud at the quick and witty retorts that Evanovich readers have come to expect.

While Thanksgiving is a traditional American holiday, this nation is a melting pot full of many different ethnicities and cultures who bring their own dishes to the table to complement the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Best known for her role as Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and most recently as President Obama’s campaign co-chair, she is also a fabulous cook. This Mexican-American beauty offers 100 of her favorite dishes inspired by her family and friends, including her dad’s shrimp cocktail and sweet potato empanadas and enchiladas rojas. There are even drinks and over-the-top desserts to go along with the stories behind the dishes. Family, friends and food, a winning combination especially for Thanksgiving.

For Paula Deen, who lost both of her parents early in life, and got married at an early and divorced and left with two children of her own and a young sibling to to raise, with no money, all while suffering with agoraphobia (fear of going outside) for many years, food and cooking became her salvation. If you were to ask Deen how she survived any of the tragedies in her life she would tell you: Food. None of her success was overnight, but at every step her passion for cooking was there to provide comfort and a relief. In Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible you will enjoy more than 480 pages of traditional and one of kind recipes to share with your loved ones for the holidays.

In some circles, Ms. Labelle is known as much for her cooking as for her singing. Just ask Elton John and any number of celebrities she’s fed while touring or hosting in her home over the years, and they’ll tell you that Ms. Patti can cook! This is her fourth cookbook and an ode to her philosphy…living the Good Life. There are some basic standards, like her world-famous macaroni and cheese, but most of the dishes are healthier alternatives that allows folks who like Ms. Labelle suffer from diabetes to enjoy the same scrumptous dishes without a lot of the guilt.

Since the holidays are all about but sharing and giving, why not knock out two birds with one stone. In this celebrity-inspired cookbook stars like Alfre Woodard, Tom Hanks and Ben Verreen share there favorite dishes from there travels throughout the Caribbean. You can enjoy more than 250 pages of island recipes, photos and anecdotes from some of your favorite stars. But what’s really great is that this is a book that keeps on giving. Proceeds from Morgan Freeman & Friends go to islands that have suffered severe damages from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Patrick and Gina Neely host two shows on the Food Network, “Down Home With The Neelys” and “Road Tasted with The Neelys.” It was Paula Deen who”discovered The Neelys after eating in their restaurant, Neelys Nashville Bar-B-Que. She was so impressed that she had her son’s feature them on their Food Network show and then she urged The Food Network to give the Neelys their own show. And the rest, as they say, is history. The Neelys are currently filming the sixth season of “Down Home,” which airs seven days a week on the Food Network and this is their first book, featuring some of the recipes that made Paula Deen take notice. Down Home with The Neelys even gives the background on how they met, fell in love and how the business began.

It would be an insult not to provide an in-depth look at the the true history of Thanksgiving and the holiday that evolved from the cultural and physical genocide of one the most exquisite races of people to ever have lived. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is the story of what happened after the Pilgrims. This classic and a perennial bestseller, documents the systematic destruction of the Native Americans throughout the 19th Century using public records, first-hand accounts and descriptions. Cheyenne, Dakota, Sioux, Ute and other warriors and chief tell of the battles and massacres that destroyed their people and those stories are told in their own words so that the world will never forget.