12 Months of Lent: Recipes #11 & #12: Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yogurt and Coconut Quinoa Lentil Stew

Before I even kicked off my month of cooking, I had been trying to make dinner party plans with my BFFL Sondra and her boyfriend Tony. Since the two of them work unconventional schedules and live about an hour away in Providence, it’s often difficult to book them for a weekend night so we made sure to plan far in advance. We managed to sync schedules and they came up and joined Dan and I for dinner last Friday night.

Sondra and I grew up across the street from each other and spent so much time together that our childhoods are virtually identical. Not only is she my first friend, but also my oldest—not in age but in years that we’ve been friends, which is a whopping 25. Our 2-decade + friendship has seen it all: knock-down, drag-out fights about Weebles (for the record, I still think I was in the right), our traditional Christmas Eve-Eve sleepovers, trips to Whale’s Tail and Clark’s Trading Post, various really stupid teenage phases, and even living together in good ol’ 14T. Friends like Sondra are hard to come by; the kind who’ve been there through literally every phase of your life, whose family feels like your own (well, probably because our parents are both named John and Donna and we both have Aunt Sue’s who own ice cream stores), and the one’s who you know will have your back no matter what. In other words, I love Sondra and she’s the best.

Since it’s pretty clear that I’m awful fond of Sondra, its no surprise that I’m super-critical of any guy who she brings home to meet me. After years of less-then-awesome prospects, she finally got it right with the wonderful Mr. Tony Pacitti. Tony’s an all-around stand-up guy and a great writer to boot. His book, My Best Friend is a Wookie, is totally awesome and everyone should read it (especially those of you from my generation because the cultural references are a goddamn laugh riot). All the gushing aside, mix two Dan’s with a Sony and a Tony, add in some fritters and Trader Joe’s wine, and you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome Friday night.

I hit up my girls over at Two Blue Lemons for some delicious gluten-free recipes (Tony was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease), and came up with these two gems, both of which were so delicious that there were no leftovers (bummer for me).

Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yogurt
Coconut Quinoa Lentil Stew

Love you guys!