By CHELSIE HARRIS

‘Tis the season for family, friends, and food! This month we’re exploring cookbooks by chefs and foodies from here in San Diego.

Skip the classic turkey dinner and host a family fiesta instead! Marcela Valladolid’s “Casa Marcela, Fresh Mexico” and “Mexican Made Easy” are both titles that will spice up your holiday repertoire and inspire new favorites. Her most recent title – “Fiestas: Tidbits, Margaritas & More” – was released in April of this year. Marcela lives in Chula Vista, when she isn’t busy being a Food Network star.

If fiestas aren’t really your style, try your hand at some gourmet recipes courtesy of “Flying Pans: Two Chefs, One World.” Chefs Bernard Guillas and Ron Oliver of the renowned Marine Room restaurant at The La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club will take you on a culinary journey that combines culture and tasty creations. If you like seafood, this book is for you.

Our library colleagues, Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada, are newly published authors! “The Little Women Cookbook: Novel Takes on Classic Recipes from Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Friends” is a literary mash-up that has readers travelling back to simpler times with recipes that are as easy as they are scrumptious.

Of course, nothing says the holidays like homemade baked goods. “Cake, I Love You” by Jill O’Connor is organized by flavor and level of difficulty, so even beginning bakers can create a masterpiece. O’Connor is a food columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Prefer to skip time in the kitchen but still intrigued by culinary pursuits? “Jail House Cuisine” is a memoir by Louise Mathews, retired chief from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Find out what it’s like to cook and eat behind bars.

Request a copy of any of these titles on sdcl.org. Prefer to read on your smartphone or tablet? Download the Libby app and use your county library card to download hundreds of cookbooks.

Don’t forget to join us for our Winter Wonderland on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. Enjoy crafts, cookie decorating, a photobooth, and balloons with Free Spirit the Elf. This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the La Mesa Library.

— Chelsie Harris is managing librarian of the La Mesa Branch Library.