How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it: a simple way to lose weight and be healthier. Welcome to amazingtangledgrace who is now Following.

Brazil in the 1600s was nominally a Portuguese colony. The Europeans clung to the coastline, and built towns and plantations along the rivers, but the greater portion of the vast land was thick with jungle and inhospitable to the colonizers. To work the sugar cane plantations, 15,000 enslaved people were removed from Angola, joining enslaved indigenous people. To the enslaved, the thick jungles looked like freedom, and hundreds opted to take their chances in the forest. From 1605 to 1695, a flourishing ‘kingdom’ existed in Palmares, in the mountains of North-Eastern Brazil. At its peak, the quilombo was home to 20,000 maroon people. Together they set up a government and a judicial system, and successfully resisted periodic raids by Portuguese and Dutch military forces. A woman named Dandara had been born in slavery but had escaped to Palmares. Her husband, Zumbi, was born free, then enslaved, and then escaped. They opposed a peace treaty of 1678, which had been accepted by Ganga Zumba, Zumbi’s uncle and the leader of Palmares. The treaty would have given Palmares autonomy, but required them to return any escaped people to their oppressors. Dandara and Zumbi were both fighters, repulsing the many incursions by the Portuguese. Dandara was particularly fierce in wanting to resist recapture and to protect the freedom of all the free residents of the quilombo. She lobbied the ruler and everyone else to reject the agreement. Ganga Zumba was overthrown and Zumbi took his place. But that left the community divided. On 6 February, 1694, their community was destroyed by the military, despite Dandara’s best efforts. Some say she was captured and beheaded by the victors, others say that rather than be re-enslaved, she threw herself from the mountain peak. The story of Palmares is told in the graphic novel Angola Janga: Kingdom of Runaway Slaves. Zumbi was captured and beheaded on 20 November 1695. There is a statue to him in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The least we can do is to remember Dandara on 6 February.

Our breakfast features a popular Brazilian bread. Our dinner features salt cod, which was the food that was often fed to enslaved people in the New World.

Brazilian Breakfast: 233 calories 11 g fat 1 g fiber 11 g protein 25.5 g carbs 201 mg Calcium  PB GF – if made with all tapioca flour Here’s a breakfast to get a Brazillian out of bed in the morning: cheesey pao de queijo with bacon and fruited applesauce.

2 pao de queijo  1 slice uncured bacon [20 calories] 2 oz fat-free plain yogurt + 2 fl oz applesauce, unsweetened  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water 

Prepare the Pao de Queijo in advance. Cook the bacon and stir together the yogurt and the applesauce. Plate with the Pao and that was simple.

PAO DE QUEIJO: makes 15 puffs. Each = 79 calories 5 g fat 0 g fiber 2 g protein 7 g carbs 44 mg Calcium  This Brazillian favorite is from thekitchn.com. Easy to make, with a super taste of cheese.

15 puffs, made with 1.5 Tbsp scoop	baking sheet lined with parchment paper
1/3 c olive oil ½ c water ½ c skimmed milk 1 tsp salt	Put in a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring at whiles. Take off heat as soon as you see big bubbles coming up through milk.
2 c. tapioca flour OR  1 c. tapioca flour + 1 c. white whole wheat flour	Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until all incorporated. Dough will be grainy and gelatinous.
	Put dough in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Beat dough a few minutes at medium speed until it is smooth, and cool enough to hold your finger against it for several seconds.
2 two-oz eggs	With mixer on medium, beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Wait until the 1st egg is fully incorporated before adding 2nd. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese	Beat in cheese on medium speed until fully incorporated.
	Scoop dough by onto baking sheets, spacing about 1½“ apart.
	Put baking sheets in a cold oven and immediately turn heat to 350°F. Bake 10-15 mins, until puffed, dry on the outside, and just starting to turn golden-brown on bottoms.

Saint Kitts Salt Cod Stew: 243 calories 2.4 g fat 3.4 g fiber 39 g protein 14 g carbs 140 mg Calcium  PB GF A savory stew of salt cod and fresh vegetables is just the ticket for a filling meal any time of year. In the Carribean, this is served with a coconut dumpling, but they have a lot of calories so we won’t serve them today. Instead, there could be a flour dumpling from Fannie Farmer’s cookbook, or it can be omitted.

2 oz salt cod 2 oz bell pepper, any color 1 oz scallion 3 oz tomato 1 clove garlic ¼ c onion 1/3 c fish stock

Soak the fish over night in warm water to soften it and to remove some of the salt. Drain the fish, discarding the water, and flake or cut into bite-sized pieces. Cook the pepper, and the alliums in water or fish stock – NOT the soaking water – for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and fish, then cover and cook for 10 minutes.