Hosting Thanksgiving can be a stressful ordeal. So to teach any home chef how to iron out whatever wrinkles occur while making the year's most difficult meal, and to provide some expert advice on holiday favorites, Taste of Home offers 10 easy tips to ensure you're actually grateful it's Thanksgiving:

1. Turkey Tips: It's never easy to get a turkey done just right, but here's a tip: if the inside of your turkey is cooked but the outside isn't brown, stop basting and increase the heat to 450° to get a golden skin without drying out the meat. If you need to refresh a dry bird, cut the meat and bake it with turkey or chicken stock at 350° for 10-15 minutes2. Gravy Glitches: If your gravy is runny, slowly stir cold turkey or chicken stock into a bit of cornstarch until it's dissolved. Then gradually whisk it into the simmering gravy. Lumpy gravy can be poured into a blender for 20-30 seconds. You can also whisk in turkey or chicken stock just a little at a time until you get the right consistency.3. Crank up the Cranberry: Make whole berry cranberry sauce according to the directions on the bag of fresh cranberries it's just berries, sugar and water. Whomp up the flavor when you take it off heat by stirring in a little orange marmalade or jalapeño jelly.4. Give the Kids' Table VIP Status: Use place cards for each kid. Ask a fun uncle or aunt to eat at the kids' table, then enjoy as they all giggle through the meal. You'll wish you'd sat there, too!5. Revive Soggy Stuffing: Spread it on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 10 minutes. If the stuffing is still mushy, then stir and bake it for an additional 5 minutes.6. Disguise a Cracked Pie: Chocolate! The solution to many of life's problems. Melt together 1 cup chocolate chips and cup heavy whipping cream, stirring until smooth. Pour over cooled pie and chill until set. Hint: You really should try this even if your pie doesn't have cracks.7. Make the Fluffiest Potatoes: The key to super-fluffy mashed potatoes is to make sure they're dry before mashing. Once the potatoes are cooked and drained, put them back in the pot, cover it up, and let them dry for 1 to 2 minutes. The drier the potato, the fluffier the mash.8. Spice it Up: Make a homemade spice bag with cloves, cinnamon sticks and citrus peel for mulling cider or wine.Wrap double thickness of cheesecloth around your spices; bring up the edges and tie with kitchen string. A loose leaf tea filter, or even a coffee filter, works in a pinch. Also try recipes for Hot Mulled Wine and Warm Pomegranate Punch at

www.tasteofhome.com.9. Put your Slow Cooker to Work: As soon as sides like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes or stuffing are hot, plunk them in a slow cooker on the lowest setting while you finish up the rest of the meal. This frees up space galore! You can even put gravy in a smaller, 2-quart slow cooker. It holds beautifully for up to an hour on the warm setting.10. No Shame in Shortcuts: Who says Thanksgiving dessert has to be totally from scratch?There's plenty of modern twists on traditional family recipes, take this Caramel Apple Strudel

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/caramel-apple-strudel, as an example puff pastry can replace getting dough all over the kitchen counters!Photos courtesy Metrographics.