Update: Giveaway is over but please check out the app!  Thanks!

Truett is finally getting to the age where he can help in the kitchen more and with the help of an iPad food app and some kid friendly recipes, we are sure to create some memories!

Celebrity Chef Marcus Samuelsson has added to the already large selection of recipes by creating exclusive recipe content for the fantastic iPad app, Big Fork Little Fork. It’s an Apple iPad app that provides tools for kids to get them excited about food and help create family meals. I personally love every single thing about this app. They did a great job with it and not only does it capture my eye, my son loves the photos and game. He likes to pick different recipes and just look at them and he loves the game.

I created a video to give you a quick look at it but some of the things that I love are:

• Big photos
• Clear, bold steps and ingredient list
• Fun games to engage the kiddo and learn about food
• Shopping List
• Search
• Extremely user friendly
• Cool menu with photo icons
• EASY recipes with nutritional information
• Very cool videos (love the peeling vegetables one!!)

WIN AN IPAD!

To celebrate his efforts in creating these fabulous recipes, I’m giving away an iPad!  Thanks to Kraft Foods, I get to give you the chance to own one of the coolest gadgets around!  One winner will receive an Apple iPad 16GB, Wifi.

One lucky winner will win this fabulous iPad. I love mine and have no doubt that you will too!

TO ENTER:

Main Entry - Leave a comment below telling me what your ideal recipe/food app would be like?

Additional, optional entries, leaving each one in separate comment to count:

• What is your favorite thing about this Big Fork Little Fork food/recipe iPad app?  Leave a comment telling me below.
• Share on a social network like Twitter or Facebook and leave a comment telling me where, preferably with the link to it.  **DAILY ENTRY**
• Follow and/or “Like” Kraft Foods on Twitter and Kraft Foods on Facebook. come back here and tell me which one you did. If you did both, leave each one in a separate comment. (if you’re up to it, feel free to follow me on twitter and like My Wooden Spoon on Facebook)
• finally, go check out my recipe I submitted and if you like it, click “Like” it!  Thanks!  DAILY ENTRY

Giveaways ends on December 14th at about 10pm CST.   Good luck!

If you’ve been a reader of mine since 2008, then you’ll recall the time I hung out with Rocco Dispirito. It was glorious to watch him cook and charm us gals to no end.   Since then, I’ve had several encounters with various celebrities including the lovely Paula Deen but this time around, I’m getting to spend some time with the beautiful & sweet Marisa Tomei, very funny Dan Cortese and Mr. Charming himself–Rocco.

The proud sponsor, Bertolli, presents a new branded webisode series “Into the Heart of Italy” where these three fine people will be sharing their journey of finding the secrets of Italy’s best culinary recipes.  I get to be there for a NYC lunch & premiere and I’m so excited that I’m about to pee my pants.

If you haven’t seen a clip yet, check the video out below and stay tuned for updates and a recipe!

Disclosure:  The PR firm, Zocalo Group, is handling my all expense paid trip to the NYC event premiere of Into the Heart of Italy. As always, this doesn’t sway my opinions in any way. I freakin’ love these guys and Bertolli so it’s a match made in heaven.

Can you believe it? I got to meet the Queen of Butta, Paula Deen at the Blogher Conference in Chicago.  {{WOW}}  This is probably my fourth of fifth time showing this picture off but I don’t care.  It IS Paula Deen after all and that’s freakin’ cool.

Now I love Paula for her cooking (and Paula’s cookware, especially the wooden spoons..heehee) because I consider that the best southern comfort food around, however, it is her life story that is inspirational and captures my heart the most.  A quick recap for those of you who don’t know what’s she’s about……

Before she got into the professional side of cooking, Paula was a homemaker and bank teller.  In 1989, she divorced leaving her with $200 in her pockets and two teenage boys to raise.  Instead of wallowing in self pity, she started a very small catering business, The Bag Lady, where she would make up sandwiches (and other food) and have her boys deliver the food.  She never delivered food herself due to her fear, Agoraphobia, fear of public places.  Paula has said that her fear was probably due the fact that she was held at gunpoint at one time in her life.  GAH!!!

Next thing you know, “The Bag Lady“, outgrew her kitchen and moved on to bigger things.  She was hired by Best Western Hotel, to cook of course and within 5 years or so, she owned her own restaurant, The Lady and Sons.  Freakin’ awesome I’d say!!  I’m sure she never imagined that she’d own her own restaurant, much less come to be as big as she is now.

Almost 10 years later, after her divorce, she published her very first cookbook, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.  She moved on to TV, promoted on QVC, and went on to make other cookbooks.  In 2003, Paula Deen got her own cooking show, Paula’s Home Cooking.  Can you tell I’m a fan yet???  I even get her magazine!

GET COOKIN’

After all this, she’s still a-goin’ and has launched something new called Get Cookin’ where she shares her stories and such through her own words, photos, and videos!  And guess what, you can participate too by uploading your own videos and photos.  Connect with her and other foodies on a more social level.  LOVE IT!  You get to see her as herself…sometimes no makeup;)

Finally, one more picture of me staring the beautiful Paula Deen while she answers a question for someone…….clearly I’m in love.  She’s an amazing women to say the least and I’m so honored to have met her.

P.S.  She really is just beautiful inside and out.

First, lets give a hand to my fantastic guest poster, belhoste!! She did a wonderful job standing in for me with the posts and I hope you all are so kind as to visit her blog and say hello:)

If you recall, I went the Blogher conference in San Fransisco this past weekend and one of the exciting parts of it was getting to see Rocco DiSpirito!  Not only is he easy on the eyes, he’s also witty and down to earth!  He cooked up some pasta using the quick and easy Bertolli pouches.  Very simple to use and I loved watching him taste everything…he kept licking his fingers:)

I also loved that he walked the room so that we all got to see him instead of just staying in one place where the back people wouldn’t be able to see.

He told us his story on the turning point of becoming so interested in food and what drives him today.  When he’s home, he loves to eat soup!  He seems very genuine, down to earth, funny, and I adored how would reference his mother….he’s a good boy;)

It was definitely one of my highlights and I’m glad that he accepted the offer to participate in Blogher and I’m extremely grateful to be a part of it!

Here were are together…….

Ermmm, now onto the food!

I was able to attend Guy Kawasaki’s party on Thursday night and I must say, he had the most fantastic food!  The party was beautiful and the food was delicious:)  See all my photos from San Fransisco here including Guy’s party!

Anyways, the colors were vibrant, the variety of drinks rocked, and the combination of flavors were divine:)  Take a look at some of what he offered…………

First up is some good ol’ barbecue!  A little more fancy than what I prepare but just as good!

Wild Rice & Peppers anyone??

For you meat lovers, how about this with a side of asparagus??…YUMMY!

We attending a Macy’s party and enjoyed these cute little Chinese takeout boxes complete with chopsticks!

These were cute too, just a little bigger than a quarter:)  I did learn that I don’t like tofu….which is what these are :/

I had a blast and loved every single minute of it! I tried to bring a little of Blogher to you since I know that many of you can’t attend…I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I loved taking them!

Yep, you heard me right.  I’m having lunch with Rocco DiSpirito while attending the Blogher conference in San Fransisco, CA!!!  Well, me and few other lovely ladies:)  I’m so excited to not only meet the foodilicous celebrity, but to also see him in action.  He’ll be demonstrating how to use the NEW Bertolli Premium Pasta Sauce in a Pouch and one of his new recipes!  WOOHOO:)  After that, we get to talk and take pictures with him!  I’m so excited.

Learn more and read Rocco’s bio at Food Network!

He has some wonderful cookbooks out that be of interest to you.  Some include:

• Rocco’s Real-Life Recipes
• Rocco’s Five Minute Flavor: Fabulous Meals with 5 Ingredients in 5 Minutes
• Rocco’s Italian-American
• Flavor
• Rocco Gets Real

I’m looking forward to this so much and can’t wait to update you on how it all went with photos!  If everything goes smoothly, I hope to have a surprise for you;)