I just emailed these recipes to friends....so thought I would post here for anyone looking for some yum new recipes.... Enjoy!

My friend Sue and I did a mini dinner party with some gal pals recently and these three things were what we paired with a salad and it made a great spread. Hope you try something different and go outside your comfort zone...I don't think you will be disappointed! All these recipes are from one of my faves, Sam the Cooking Guy (http://www.thecookingguy.com/ ). If you don't have his recipe book, "Just a Bunch of Recipes", you need to get it right away (Another shout out to my bro, Josh, and Dana for getting us the insider info on the free book and meet and greet with Sam). It's got yummy, easy stuff and it is funny as all get out. What more can you ask for?!


So...for you people out there who Love shrimp I think you are going to like this recipe. Even if you don't... try it anyway... It is simple, flavorful, delicious and impressive. I saw it on his show and was craving it forever and then finally looked up the recipe and since then I've been hooked! I love it b/c you can make it with frozen shrimp and it is still delightful. I've had it with fresh but have recently found frozen shrimp on sale at Fry's (In the frozen seafood section) so I've been stocking up!
PLUS...another unexpected bonus... Little LOVES it. This is crazy b/c this girl barely eats anything but chicken nuggets and cheerios...she will even eat it with the peel on...no joke.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Makes 6 appetizer servings (or meal for 4ish)
Put this in front of your friends - they won't believe it! You can say "Yeah, I made it - I mean I made that!" No one has to know it took about 5 minutes in the kitchen but you.
Ingredients
1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound shrimp, raw shell-on & de-veined – 31/40’s are the prefect size
2 large cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 inch fresh ginger,minced
1 bunch green onions, cut into 2 inch lengths
Steps
Mix salt & pepper in small bowl and set aside
Turn on the fan above your stove and heat a wok or pan until really really hot and smoking and then add the oil
Wait until it smokes even more
Don't get freaked out by the smoke
Add garlic, ginger, green onion and the shrimp
Stir often so all is mixed and shrimp are fully cooked – which should not take more than a couple minutes, then add the salt & pepper
Stir fry quickly to coat shrimp in the salt and pepper mixture – serve
Prepare yourself for the compliments to come



Artichokes And Dippy Goodness
It's easy to forget about these prickly, goofy-looking things in the supermarket. But they're so good you shouldn't - they make a great appetizer. Sometimes we have them right with the rest of our dinner. Don't forget about the artichoke hearts after...
Ingredients
3 artichokes (my family almost eats 1 each)
1 1/2 lemons
1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (The tubed stuff will work if you have to).
1 clove garlic
1 stick of butter (Stop your crying, you won't eat all the butter yourself)
Steps
Cut the stem and about 1 inch off the top of each artichoke
Cut the point off each leaf
Place artichokes in large pan with water about halfway up each choke
Squeeze 1 lemon over chokes in pan
Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer covered for about 45 minutes (Artichokes are done when you pull a leaf off and it comes easily)
Remove from water, cool & serve with all three dipping sauces - yes all three
Dip 1 - Melt butter in small pot - so simple, so right
Dip 2 - Mix half the mayo with curry powder and mix well
Dip 3 - Mix other half of mayo with basil, garlic and juice from half of a lemon
*** Deb's note.... okay this is kinda funny... I have had this twice but someone else mixed it up for me both times while I was prepping other food....and both times they just mixed all the dip ingredients together and it was DELICIOUS... so up until I pulled this recipe off his website, then consulted my cookbook I realized that he does them as 3 separate dips...either way you do it, I am sure it is yum...but I don't know if I will actually do it right...will probably just continue to make it mixed all together.....SOoooOOoooo good ( you notice I did not put good FOR you...).


Tomato, Onion & Goat Cheese Pie
This is no quiche - not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just a wonderful collection of simple ingredients that you'll love. My teenager had friends over one day when I was making this and they all ate it. All of it. Here's what they said: Nick: "Sam at the top of his game." John: "It was a loped out dank piece of pie." Dean: "It was a gnarly chill pie." Josh: "It's a creeped out danky piece of dank cheese pie." You can see how moved they were. Maybe you should try it for yourself.
Ingredients
3 large red onions, sliced thin
3-4 large ripe tomatoes, in 1/4 inch slices
6 ounces crumbled goat cheese with herbs
1-9 inch unbaked pie crust
Olive oil
Steps
Saute onions in olive oil until softened, season with salt & pepper
Place pie crust in pie plate, and fill with onions
Cover with sliced tomatoes in a nice pattern
Sprinkle cheese crumbles over the top
Bake at 350 until edges become brown
Remove from oven and slice into wedges
** Please make this "pie" ... it is yum and different and impressive. It just works...I don't know why, but I tend not to question things that are yum for no reason.