On the Road to Savannah with Paula Deen

he second season of the Real Women of Philadelphia cooking competition is in full swing!

Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Southern Cooking Queen Paula Deen have announced many of the finalists in the second annual Real Women of Philadelphia cooking competition. The quest to crown four fantastic female cooks heats up as they prepare for Savannah.

Members of the site have self-produced short videos showcasing how they use Philly in their favorite dishes, created their own site profiles, uploaded pictures, and written articles. Throughout the competition the community of women has supported each other as they discovered recipes, built friendships and shared their experiences.

The 16 finalists chosen will travel to Savannah for a full week of exciting events as they have the opportunity to meet Paula Deen in person and compete in a cook-off on June 28 and attend the 2nd Annual Real Women of Philadelphia Live Event on June 30 for the chance to be crowned the winner in their cooking category.

The four winners will each receive a talent contract worth $25,000, star in their own cooking videos, contribute to a cookbook featuring the community's favorite cream cheese recipes from the season, and host the Real Women of Philadelphia community for the rest of the year.

Finalists announced thus far in each of the four categories include:

Appetizer:
Carmell Childs- Provo, UT 
Paula Todora- Keller, TX
Dalena Benavente- Orange, CA 
Sharon Sorensen- Providence, UT

Side Dish:
Bekah Frost- Lowry City, MO 
Rachael Collins- Dubuque, IA
Beth Peterson- Naperville, IL
Monica Williams Staniec- Lake Arrowhead, CA

Entrée:
Josee Lanzi- New Port Richey, FL
Kirsten Shabaz- Lakeville, MN 
Kelly Shippey- Orange, CA
Paula Musegades- Waltham, MA

Dessert:
Amy Williams- Keller, TX
Rebecca Regnier- Lambertville, MI

Paula Deen Twitter Q&A Today!

Submit your questions as we catch up with Paula Deen via Twitter to discuss Kraft Food’s The Real Women of Philadelphia and other tales from the kitchen TODAY!

PAULA DEEN AND THE REAL WOMEN OF PHILADELPHIA TWITTER Q&A

FEATURING THE ONE AND ONLY PAULA DEEN

WHEN:                 Thursday, April 14, 2011, 1 PM ET

                                               

WHAT:                 Twitter Q&A with Paula Deen hosted by MSN Wonderwall

LIVE Q&A:           Tune in to a LIVE Twitter Q & A featuring Paula Deen at http://twitter.com/WonderwallMSN or http://www.twitter.com/paula_deen

THE REAL WOMEN OF PHILADELPHIA:

Southern Cooking Queen Paula Deen and Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese are back to help make four women's dreams come true in Season 2 of the Real Women of Philadelphia cooking competition.  Home cooks nationwide are finding their favorite Philly recipes to compete for the chance to be one of four lucky women to win $25,000, star in their own cooking videos and contribute to a cookbook featuring the Real Women of Philadelphia online community’s favorite cream cheese recipes.

Beginning April 4, women will create short, tasty, entertaining and creative cooking videos for submission in one of four categories:  Appetizer, Side Dish, Entree and Dessert. Videos will be submitted to www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com.

Each week, one recipe from each of the four categories will be selected. The 16 finalists will have the opportunity to meet Paula Deen in person and compete in a cook-off at the 2nd Annual Real Women of Philadelphia Live Event which will take place June 30 in Savannah, GA.  Paula Deen will crown 4 winners; 1 in each cooking category.

To learn more about The Real Women of Philadelphia go to www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com or www.pauladeen.com. 

Paula Deen in Search for Super Fan

Paula Deen is in search for the “Real Women of Philadelphia,” an 8-week casting call for fantastic female cooks, culminating in 16 finalists being flow to Savannah to cook for judges including Paula herself!

 Paula Deen is on the hunt for one super-fan from the community to also come to Savannah to be a part of this project!  The winning lady will act as the “Voice” of the community for the cook-off.  She will receive an all expense paid trip to Savannah to spend time with Paula and the finalists and act as the behind-the-scenes ambassador for the entire four days!

Here’s how the super-fan can get involved, and get herself noticed!

 *   On Facebook:  Create Facebook Shares and posts about the site, Paula’s videos, and the videos in the recipe gallery - make sure that when you post to Facebook you put an "@" sign before the word "Philadelphia' so we can see it on our Facebook – www.Facebook.com/LoveMyPhilly
 *   On Twitter:  Tweet about Real Women of Philadelphia and add in the hash tag #RWOP at the end of your tweets.  Philly is on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/LoveMyPhilly
 *   Or just retweets Paula’s videos and videos from all the girls in the Recipes gallery
 *   Leave comments on videos on the site (quality, not quantity!)

To read the official rules of this Voices of RWoP contest, click HERE.

Visit www.PaulaDeen.com/RealWomen to find out more about the Real Women of Philadelphia cooking competition, the search for #17 and to share recipes and tips with other real-life cooks.

Contest ends June 27, 2010.