In less than 24 hours, work begins on the feast of the year - Thanksgiving dinner. For some, it's old hat, but there are still newbies out there, and many mistakes to be made.

For anyone who has never hosted a Thanksgiving meal before, it can seem a little daunting. But Hy-Vee Dietitian Nikki Ford says there's nothing to worry about - as long as you stick with tradition and follow a few rules.

Tradition has pretty much decided what's on the menu, turkey. But how big should your bird be?

"Usually plan on about one pound of (uncooked) turkey per person, so if you're planning on 10 people, a 10 pound turkey is about what you're going to need. Depending on if you want leftovers or not," Ford said. "While you're cooking it, if you have it in an oven bag, or sometimes even a roaster, you shouldn't have to baste it too much, if you coat it with some butter or vegetable oil before-hand, as long as you have it covered and sealed, that's going to create moisture within there," explained Ford.

Oil and an oven bag sounds easy enough, but what goes with the turkey? Mashed potatoes are always a good place to start.

"Use skim milk instead of cream, that's going to help lighten them up and make them nice and fluffy. But you can add all kinds of herbs and seasonings, margarine, butter, whatever is going to fit your needs for potatoes," she said.

And you can't have Thanksgiving without green bean casserole.

"Green bean casserole is really easy to make, the recipe is right on the can of french onions. So just throw it all together, and throw it in the oven. A good part to remember is timing-wise as far as your turkey in the oven. So if you have 35 minutes left on your turkey, that'd be a good time to stick in that green bean casserole for about 30 minutes, take it out, put the rest of those onions on for the extra five minutes, and that way your dinner is done all about the same time," said Ford.

And then comes the best part for people with a sweetooth... dessert. There's usually a wide variety of pies in the bakery section - but if you're feeling brave, you could try baking a pumpkin pie of your own.

"Making your own is great, using a pre-made crust though is really gonna help out. And this is something you can do ahead of time, you can make your pies today (Wednesday), you wouldn't have to wait till tomorrow to make them. That's going to free up the oven, and again it's a really easy recipe, throw in a can of pumpkin, evaporated milk, all your spices, mix it up, and you have two pies," Ford said.

Just one more tip to avoid disaster -make sure to use separate surfaces and disinfect between dishes, so you don't make any of your guests sick by cross-contamination.

And remember, if it all fails, you could always just have a turkey sandwich. If you have more questions about the big feast, you can stop by your local Hy-Vee and pick up a brochure with more tips, or call one of the 1-800 numbers to the left for turkey emergencies.

For more from Nikki Ford, just click on the video links above, and to see the recipes she used, click on the links below.

Happy Cooking!