Chef Brave Heart

29/12/2025

We Remember Wounded Knee

My childhood home is less than 5 miles from the Wounded Knee Massacre site. When you see photos of that tragedy, remember: you know people who are direct descendants of those who were lost. Their bloodlines continue, and their stories live on through us. We remember, and so should you.

On this day, December 29, 1890, over 200 innocent, unarmed women, children, and men were brutally massacred at Wounded Knee, their lives stolen by the United States government. These were our ancestors, gathered under the leadership of Chief Spotted Elk, seeking refuge and peace. Instead, they were met with violence, betrayal, and death. The echoes of their screams still reverberate across the lands of our people, their pain etched into the soil and passed through our DNA.

This massacre marked the end of the Indian Wars but also the beginning of generations of resistance. The pain and trauma remain a part of us, but so does the strength, the resilience, and the will to endure.

Today, we honor our ancestors by surviving, by thriving, by standing tall. Our very existence is resistance, a tribute to those who were taken. Their memory fuels our fight to preserve our culture, our history, and our future.

We remember. And we will ensure the world remembers too.

29/12/2025

Recently, a woman in one of my cooking classes challenged me at every turn.
“Couldn’t you just make it this way shorter, easier?”

I smiled and told her the truth: the depth of flavor that comes from patience, faith, and time cannot be rushed or replicated.

This matzo soup is the testament.
A long day, slow brewed bone broth. Look at the sheen of the collagen. The delicate, perfect matzo balls. This soup is so good it feels like my grandmother’s hugs warm, steady, and full of love.

Some things aren’t meant to be hurried. 🍲✨

28/12/2025

🔥✨♥️

Meet Mariah Gladstone, the founder of Indigikitchen, an inspiring platform that brings Native American food traditions to the modern world.

As a member of the Blackfeet and Cherokee nations, Mariah is passionate about reconnecting Indigenous communities to their ancestral diets. Through Indigikitchen, she shares traditional recipes and cooking tips, highlighting the importance of food sovereignty and cultural preservation. 🌽

Mariah’s work emphasizes the power of food to strengthen wellness, community, and connection to heritage. By promoting traditional foods, she’s helping people rediscover healthier eating practices while honoring the rich history of Native cuisine.

Indigikitchen isn’t just about cooking—it’s about fostering a deeper understanding of Indigenous foodways, one meal at a time.

Let’s support efforts like Mariah’s and embrace the wisdom of traditional food systems. 🥣

26/12/2025

It is important to learn the true history of the original inhabitants of the lands you live upon. To understand that these places hold memory, grief, and our survival that still live in the soil.

On December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 plus 2 Dakota men were publicly hanged in the largest mass ex*****on in United States history, ordered under the authority of Abraham Lincoln. I come from the Bdewakantowan Isanti Dakota of Mni Sota, what is now called Minneapolis Saint Paul. This is my history. These were my people.

The United States government attempted to eradicate us by disarming us so we could no longer hunt, by slaughtering the buffalo, by forcibly removing us from our homelands, by starving us with rotten rations, and by imposing cultural and spiritual erasure through forced Christian indoctrination.

Three hundred and three Dakota men were originally sentenced to death by Henry Sibley, a man whose name still appears on schools and monuments. Lincoln, seeking to avoid further war, reduced the number to 38, later counted as 38 plus 2. Mercy was not justice. It was still genocide by another name.

Our people were expelled from our homelands and exiled to Nebraska and South Dakota. My late Leksi Jim Miller and my Tunwein Alberta Miller were among the original organizers of the Dakota 38 remembrance ride. A spiritual ride to honor those that were murdered.

Learn this history. Because it is not only ours. It is yours too.

Dakota 38 + 2

One of the men said before his death:
“Hear me, my people. Today is not a day of defeat, but a day of victory. We have made our peace with our Creator. We now go to be with Him forever. Remember this day. Tell it to our children, so they may tell their children, that we are a people who died a noble death. Do not mourn for us. Rejoice with us. It is a good day to die.”

Then he lifted his voice and sang:
“Great Spirit, Great Mystery, the things that are yours are powerful and numerous.”

26/12/2025

I got the day off !

23/12/2025

to everyone who’s purchased my mini we officially got 10,000 copies sold. Thank you for supporting my www.chefbraveheart.com

22/12/2025

Flew home for the most important work there is.
Snuggles, naps, Christmas movies, and feeding my babies.

They asked me to cook, so I did what we do.
Lemon fettuccine shrimp pasta for my little one’s request 🍋🍤 And gilbi ribs I grilled and marinated weeks ago, reheated with love. First time making them, missing my sis Chrissy’s Island Grill, LLC food so much but not bad at all for my first crack at it. Huge hit with the kids.

Missing home.
So proud of everyone that participated in Lakota Nations Invitationals.

Happy Winter Solstice: The shortest day and the longest night…

✨

21/12/2025

Wanic’okan Wi is known as the winter solstice (December 21) shortest day of the year
🌑🌘🌗🌖🌕🌔🌓🌒🌑
Wi kin wiyakpa owatohanyan kte
. collectively, starts the preparation for spring and summer ceremonies … cutting of the c’ans’as’a (red willow tobacco)… Ohunkakan Wic’ooyake (telling of stories)…
Lakol Wic’oh’an … lakota way of life

Life is a cycle
Hokahe!
Hec’etu welo!

C’an has’a (red willow); pictured
H’esapa SD (Black Hills)