There’s something about this time of year that sends us in search of cookbooks to find fresh inspiration.

Whether you like to follow recipes exactly or tweak them as you go, a new cookbook can turn your dinnertime into an opportunity for creative thinking and sensory stimulation instead of a dose of daily drudgery.

So we went looking and found 10 recently published cookbooks filled with great ideas and gorgeous photos to inspire and feed your soul — or to help you whip up something with whatever is left in the fridge. So whether you’re sharing a meal with loved ones or simply seeking some solo self-care on a quiet evening at home, the following books offer plenty of options.

“Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook” w/ Jose de Meirelles and Philip La Jaunie: Twenty years after this book’s initial publication, Bourdain is even more beloved — and missed — so it’s a joy to reconnect with his practical, authoritative voice on these pages. Take, for instance, his warning about preparing escargots: “… occasionally they like to explode, spitting a boiling-hot, napalmlike mixture of snail fluid and molten butter at your face and genital region while cooking … If you are accustomed to cooking while naked, I would strongly suggest covering strategic areas with an apron.” Raise a glass — and maybe a protective baking sheet — to this wise counsel.

“Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store” / Paola Velez w/ Emily Timberlake: With its gorgeous Burnt Tahini & Concord Grape Cake gracing the cover, this colorful cookbook celebrates family — the dedication page is full of pictures of loved ones — and the multi-ethnic upbringing of author Paola Velez, a self-described “Bronx-born Afro-Latina pastry chef and community organizer”(and a slam poetry-loving, chess club nerd who identified with Urkel from “Family Matters”). Jam-packed with recipes for treats including cookies, pies, brownies, tarts, cakes, flan and her signature Thick’ems, which combine the joys of crunchy and gooey cookies into one, this book is a complete delight.

“Good Lookin’ Cookin: A Year of Meals” / Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George: You probably don’t need me to advocate on behalf of this cookbook by our national treasure Ms. Parton and her sister; you’ll already know if you need it. Organized by months of the year, this homey recipe collection runs the gamut of foods and flavors from nachos to Yorkshire pudding. (The drinks include eclectic recipes for green beer and a Dirt Road Martini.) And while there aren’t that many cookbooks you’d want to experience as audiobooks, you might try this one to hear the sisters talk about the family, friends, and food that inspired the project.

“Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes” / Carolina Gelen: If you’ve encountered Gelen’s Instagram, you know she devises simple, appealing recipes with a minimum of fuss (she calls them, “highly doable”). Having grown up in a small Transylvania town watching TV chefs and learning to cook from her mother (as well as stints working in restaurants here in the States), she’s got a flair for food that’s simple and classic and looks and tastes great. And whether roasting citrus slices to add caramelized depth to a simple salad or tinkering endlessly to craft what she deems a “perfect” chocolate cake, she creates recipes that will have you heading to the kitchen to get started. (For a sense of her charming, funny videos, watch the one where Gelen’s mother delivers frank, sometimes withering opinions of her daughter’s book.)

“Healthy, My Way: Real Food, Real Flavor, Real Good: A Cookbook” / My Nguyen: The California-based cookbook author and social media phenomenon is the child of parents who ran a Vietnamese restaurant. She says she embraced cooking after having kids of her own and in search of a better way of eating. Her new book focuses on fresh, healthy recipes that mix influences, cuisines and traditions. So you can find recipes for huevos rancheros breakfast burritos directly across from a page featuring kimchi fried rice. She even has a NSFW recipe, but that just means her oat bars are made of “nuts, seeds, fruit and wheat germ.”

“Matty Matheson’s Soups, Salads, Sandwiches / Matty Matheson: Consult this new book by acclaimed chef and “The Bear” star Matty Matheson for great-tasting recipes — but not for G-rated language or a solid grasp of natural history: “Who was the first person or creature who made soup? A pterodactyl?” Despite his delightfully unpretentious approach — the photos by the aptly named Quentin Bacon feature him eating in cars and at payphones — he’s here to bring great taste to your life with this set of recipes. “Soups, salads, and sandwiches,” he writes of the practicality of this venture, “you could open to any chapter and cook from every day.”

“The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between” / Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho: As readers with good taste will want to know, this cookbook comes with praise from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, who writes, “Stripped of Oriental exoticism, this is a cookbook infused with the intense flavors of refugee kitchens and the inauthentic authenticity of the diaspora.” Trained in top-notch restaurants and a “Top Chef” alum, Tu David Phu grew up in California’s Bay Area as the child of Vietnamese refugees, soaking up stories and recipes about his parents’ early lives on the island Phú Quôc. The photo-filled book includes a range of dishes including Broken Rice, Sticky Rice Dumplings and much more.