There are many things that *I* believe will help make a good food blog better.

I’m not an expert — I’m just Rachel, just a Southern Girl tap tap tappin’ away on her Mac takin’ pictures of her food and writin’ out her recipes to share with those she loves at home and out there in internetz land.

After speaking about Food Blogging at BlissDom in January, I realized that a few of my favorite things are not all that well known; so today, I’m sharin’ my favorite WordPress Plug-Ins for Food Blogging.

First and Foremost -

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Think about your favorite cookbook – is it black text on white paper? Or is it glossy and filled with beautiful photographs that leap off the page and cause you to drool?

For me – pictures tell the story.

Therefore, I think every recipe should be accompanied by beautiful pictures however, a lot of photographs can bog your blog down so one of my favorite plug-ins EVAH is my  Flickr plug-in that allows me to pull my Flickr pics and insert them directly into my blog posts all with the click of a pretty little button on my dashboard.

Next -

Easy to Read and Follow

Recipes need to be well formatted and easy to read and follow.  When the ingredients are jumbled and the directions are an ongoing paragraph — the recipe is hard to read and can be more confusing than necessary.

That’s why I ADORE LOVE the hrecipe plug-in.  All you have to do is  enter the information in the provided spaces and the plug-in formats everything for you.  Your readers will love you for it LOVE> LOVE> LOVE <3

Next and this one is near and dear to my little heart

Copyright Protection

I’ve had blog posts and recipes plagiarized and it is an ugly horrible feeling.  There are only so many things that you can do and I highly urge you to do every single thing that you can to protect yourself and your work.  I highly recommend

• Simple Feed Copyright Plug-In
• WP Copyright Protection

Share-ability

If your recipes and blog posts aren’t easy to share – you’re losing out on potential readers.  You need to make it easy for your readers to share your posts – they WANT to share the posts and recipes that they love .  Reward them by making it easy!

• Tweet Meme Rocks
• Facebook Share – A Must
• Sexy Bookmarks is an all in one if you prefer it that way

Last but in NO WAY Least

Printability

Y’all.

Y’ALL

{insert serious eyes}

If your recipes aren’t printable – you are doing your readers and yourself a serious disservice

• If you aren’t on WordPress or you aren’t in any way comfortable with html — Print Friendly is for you.  It’s crazy easy, it gives your readers the choice of highlighting – selecting – deleting what they do or don’t want to print
• If you have some savvy with html (I have about zero and I can do this) or you have someone who can set it up for you, I can’t tell y’all enough just how much I love my  WP Print This plug-in.  A couple of easy little tags added to my posts and I can choose which part is printable and which isn’t – easy peas-y lemon squeeze-y.

Okay y’all, there you have them.   A few of my MUST have Plug-Ins for Food Bloggers.

Have I left any out? Do you have one that you just L-O-V-E?  Please share it!

I know this isn’t my typical Mouthwatering Monday but, I hope y’all don’t mind the lack of a recipe this week

So, on Saturday I shared my Poblano, Cilantro and Citrus Roast Turkey recipe with y’all and gave two of y’all the chance to win Butterball Turkeys (congrats to the winners!)

Today, for Mouthwatering Monday and in honor of Thanksgiving coming up and Turkeys being cooked all across the country — I’m sharing the interview that I got to do with Mary Clingman, Director of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions and sharing your knowledge with my readers and me; Please introduce yourself and share how long you’ve been a Butterball Diva

My name is Mary Clingman and I have been on the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line for 25 years.

Do you remember your first phone call? Were you nervous, excited.. was it an easy question or did it dump you right into the hot water?
I was VERY nervous to take that first call! I had studied and thought I was pretty comfortable with the information but I just KNEW that first call was going to be someone who would ask me something that I had no clue how to answer! Well, I took the first call and it was a young woman who didn’t have any money and she thought it would be a good idea to cook her little boneless turkey breast just enough to be able to get a couple of slices off of it and then she would freeze the roast back up for another time to cook it again. She didn’t know I did this but a big smile came on my face because I KNEW the answer! (do not cook turkey in different steps).

What question do you get asked the most?
“What’s the best way to thaw a turkey?” is the most popular question year after year. Some people may not realize you should allow one day of refrigerator thawing for every four pounds of turkey.  In fact, Butterball is declaring November 18 “National Thaw Day” to encourage people to purchase their turkeys in time to thaw properly before the holiday!

Can you share with us your craziest story or question? Oddest, funniest etc.. Has anyone ever called crying?
A flustered father called the Talk-Line a few hours after his wife had given birth to their first child.   He was concerned their turkey had been thawing in the fridge for too long while he was at the hospital.

When the staffer asked the man how much it weighed, he replied, “The turkey or the baby?”

After determining the turkey’s weight and thawing time, I assured him he would be able to deliver a safe, delicious Thanksgiving dinner by the time mom and the baby returned home.

What is the best advice that you can give a first time Turkey cooker?
My top tip for new (and experienced) cooks are what I call the Three T’s:

• · Thaw: Thawing in the refrigerator is the recommended method. For every four pounds of turkey, allow at least one day of thawing in the refrigerator. The refrigerator temperature should be 40° F or below.
• · Temperature: Always use a meat thermometer to determine when the turkey is fully cooked. The turkey should reach 180° F in the thigh, 170° F in the breast and 165° F in the center of the stuffing.
• · Two-Hour Rule: Store leftovers in separate containers within two hours after cooking and eat or freeze within two days.

Who calls more often? Men or Women?
We receive calls from both men and women across all age groups. We’ve seen a surge in men over the last few years…30 years ago we had less than 10% of callers were men. Today it is around 25%!

What is your favorite part about being a Turkey Diva?
I love that my job allows me to help so many people during the holidays. I get to join families across the country during one of the most special times of the year – not many jobs can offer that!

If you had one trick or secret to share to making a Tonguegasmic Turkey — what is it?
Always have a meat thermometer handy to determine done-ness! Oh and definitely tent the turkey breast with a piece of Reynolds foil 2/3 through the cooking process to ensure a tender and juicy turkey.

What’s your favorite way to prepare Turkey?
I prefer cooking in an open roasting pan. It makes cooking your turkey so easy, and your turkey comes out tender and juicy every time.

Thank you so much, Mary, for taking the time to answer these questions for us AND for being such a help to so many people!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can’t wait to see what y’all have been cooking up and sharing with friends and family! Thank y’all for linking your delicious recipes!
Please leave a comment after linking up your picture and recipe, make sure that you link back here in your post so that others can find the Mouthwatering Monday fun and visit at least 3 other participants! Trust me, you’ll love it, although you may need a drool bib