Cooking a turkey can be an intimidating undertaking! If you’re at all overwhelmed or have any questions about cooking that holiday bird, you’ll be happy to know that Butterball is ready to help you. Every year in November and December, Butterball employs professionally trained home economists and nutritionists to work the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (weekdays 8 am-8 pm CST). Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372) or check out Butterball.com for turkey tips and recipes. The website’s Thanksgiving Guide has a cool feature that calculates the size of turkey you need (and how much stuffing to make) based on whether you’re light or big eaters, you want leftovers, and how many adults and kids will be eating the meal. You can even print out a $2 coupon good for 1 whole Butterball turkey (offer good 11/13/09 through 12/31/2009). Happy cooking!

Tags: Butterball, Christmas, holiday meal, Thanksgiving, turkey, Turkey Talk-Line

Whether you’re a Thanksgiving novice or an old pro, it’s always nice to have a few new recipes to inspire you for this traditional feast. Here’s a few cookbooks that have helped me:

Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers

Thanksgiving 101 is a practical guide to creating this iconic meal. Cooking teacher and author Rick Rodgers (also known as “Mr. Thanksgiving”) has put together a collection of his favorite traditional recipes, organizational tips and menus. No photos.

Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining

This complete Thanksgiving guide is sure to inspire you with it’s beautiful color photographs, recipes, menus, and detailed work plans to help you get organized. Also included are ideas and step-by-step instructions for decorating your home and table.

The Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan

Oregon cookbook author and cooking teacher Diane Morgan has filled this cookbook with delicious recipes, menus, pretty photos, and organizational tips to help you create a memorable Thanksgiving meal.

Tags: cookbooks, menus, Recipes, table decorations, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers, The Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan, Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining