About Cabernet & Chaos 🍷🔥
Cheers!This corner of The Hollow Quill is for the women who cook with garlic measured by the heart, pour wine without checking the ounces, and somehow turn weeknight dinners into full emotional events.
Here you’ll find cozy recipes, chaotic kitchen commentary, wine pairings, family-inspired comfort meals, date-night dishes, holiday spreads, and the kind of food that tastes even better eaten standing over the stove at midnight.
Cabernet & Chaos isn’t about perfection.
It’s about flavor.
Memory.
Indulgence.
Laughter.
And occasionally threatening to throw the wooden spoon across the kitchen while sipping Cabernet.
So pour a glass, loosen the waistband, and stay awhile.
Things are getting deliciously chaotic around here. 🍝🍷
Strawberry Shortcake w/Cream on Top
Every year, my eldest twin, Brandon, asks for the same birthday dessert: strawberry shortcake. After last year’s French-style version “just wasn’t giving strawberry shortcake,” I went back to the classics. This homemade recipe features fluffy vanilla cake, fresh whipped cream frosting, sweet macerated strawberries, and homemade strawberry jam for the ultimate summer dessert. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday or simply making the most of strawberry season, this family-favorite recipe is guaranteed to become a tradition in your home, too. 🍓🎂
Sunday Sauce & Saźon
Sunday sauce wasn’t something my mother taught me directly. Like many daughters raised in loud Puerto Rican kitchens, I learned from afar — from the doorway, through garlic-scented air, watching her season by instinct while pretending not to pay attention. This Sunday Sauce & Sazón recipe is a love letter to generational cooking, slow-simmered comfort food, and the women who fed entire families without ever needing a recipe card. 🍅🍷
A Decadent Banana Coffee Crumb Cake
This cozy Banana Crumb Cake is loaded with sweet banana flavor, thick cinnamon crumble, and a drizzle of glaze that makes every bite taste bakery-worthy. Perfect for slow mornings, coffee breaks, and emotionally-supportive desserts straight from Cabernet & Chaos.
A Bronx Tale Easy Sunday Sauce
This family-style Sunday sauce is slow-simmered, loaded with garlic, and rooted in stories from the town that raised us. Made with Tuttorosso tomatoes and cooked the way Karen taught—with instinct, not measurements—it’s the kind of recipe that turns dinner into something you don’t rush.
A Chicken Fricasse Rooted in Flavor, Tradition, and Intention
“Growing up, my mother didn’t believe in bland food — or quiet kitchens.
Week after week, our home smelled like sofrito hitting hot oil, simmering on low, while the beans bubbled sacredly on the back right burner no one ever uses.
Puerto Rican staples weren’t just meals — they were rituals.
Repeated. Perfected.
Served with a side of you better eat what I serve you, or you go to bed hungry and don’t think about asking for a snack.
What some my friends nervously called “spicy” the first time they tasted her food?
Yeah… no.
They couldn’t quite understand it at first — the depth, the layering, the way every bite hit differently. This wasn’t just spice.”
Toscana Soup ~ Italian Sausage and Kale Soup
“There are meals you cook because you’re hungry…
and then there are meals you cook because life has been loud, the weather has been inconsiderately frigid, and you need something warm enough to convince your nervous system to unclench.
This Italian sausage and kale soup is the latter.“
Cabernet & Chaos Ragù alla Bolognese — Braised Beef, Red Wine, Zero Regrets
“This braised beef bolognese (shredded beef ragu) is slow-braised in red wine, tomatoes, and aromatics until it falls apart and turns into a rich, cozy pasta sauce. Perfect for date night, Sunday dinner, meal prep, and freezer meals. Serve over pappardelle, rigatoni, or polenta with parmesan + herbs.”
Gasp, Did She Say… SHRIMP Empanadas??
“Love doesn’t always show up as grand gestures or dramatic declarations. Sometimes it shows up as you standing in your kitchen, hands shaking slightly, folding shrimp into empanada dough while reminding yourself that you’re safe now. That you’re allowed to rewrite the stories that once scared you.”
Thanksgiving Pasts
It’s the official day when Christmas music blares through the house without apology—loudly enough I credit myself on resurrecting the Queen herself. Singing at the top of my lungs as if Mariah Carey and I share a vocal coach, because in the reality of my kitchen, we absolutely do.
Apple Crumb Pie 🥧
I handed his helping, “Taste this.”
A warm bite of deep-dish apple crumb pie, the cold vanilla ice-cream he brought at my bequest—noting my favorite flavor. Crust flaking perfectly, steam curling in the air between us. He took one bite, closed his eyes, and let out that deep, low hum that made my knees weak.
Ground Beef & Roasted Veggie Bolognese
Nothing screams comfort food like a hearty bowl of pasta. And as a Puerto Rican woman I certainly didn’t grow up with that as the comfort food I was craving today.
My mom would’ve handed me a bowl of white rice, red beans over pollo guisado, something I complained vehemently about consuming. Now, I relish the idea of having a bowl of mom’s cooking any day of the week.
Caramelized Leek, Mushroom & Feta Quiche (Bacon added for greatness)
Flaky deep-dish crust, crispy bacon, caramelized leeks, mushrooms, and creamy feta come together for the most unapologetically delicious quiche you’ll ever bake. Perfect for brunch, meal prep, or wine nights. Get the recipe + my kitchen must-haves!
Roasted New Jersey Tomatoes & Pappardelle Pasta
“That’s when I thank God (and my poor life choice that led me here) for being back in Jersey. Say what you will about this state, but the produce delivers the kind of comfort Midol could only dream of. You haven’t lived until you’ve sunk your teeth into a Jersey tomoto during the dogs days of summer. The northeast doesn’t just grow vegetables, — it breeds therapy disguised as produce.”
My Interpretation of My Mother’s Roast Pork, Pernil
“Within the last year I was visiting Florida and vividly remember the look on her face when I threw away an empanada I only took one bite out of. Her reaction -
“I’ve never saw a whole empanada in my garbage can before.” Disdain filled her words, and if looks could kill.
It’s not my fault, I have hot girl belly issues. I CANNOT have tomato sauce in every single dish I eat. Hence, I offended my mother in the worst way ever — by insulting her food.
The worst kind of offense to a Puerto Rican woman…”
Bistro Style 🥘 🇵🇷 Chuck Roast
“Let it stew in its own juices like a freshly dumped 42-year-old perimenopausal woman soaking in a bubble bath sipping her third glass of cabernet, rubbing one out like no ones fucking business.”
Trés Leches Tiramisu Cake ☕️
“If I wasn’t lactose and almost positive I’d shit my pants—I would drink this in a heart beat .”💕
French Inspired Strawberry Shortcake 🍓
“Cakes mark a celebration. Cakes mark memorable moments in your life. Cakes are there for you when you need them and when you don’t.”