Healthy Food – Globally Inspired 
Honduras: Baleada (Refried Beans and Cheese in Tortilla)
Honduras is a country in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Honduras is known for its rich natural resources, including minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, as well as its growing textiles industry.
Honduran cuisine is a fusion of indigenous Lenca, Spanish, Caribbean, African and the Garifuna people. The #baleada is a common street food and is made of a flour tortilla filled with refried beans, and either queso fresco or sour cream (crema). Many people add roasted meat, avocado, plantains or scrambled eggs as well. It’s similar to a quesadilla.
This recipe is adjusted for American ingredients.
https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/honduran-baleadas
WHAT’S NOT SO GREAT?
Butter or lard. And here’s the ultimate shocker: lard is better for you than butter. Say it ain’t so! That’s right, lard has 20% less saturated fat than butter and it’s higher in monounsaturated fats, which are good for cardiovascular health. Lard is rendered and clarified pork fat.
Lard is not shortening, so don’t be digging out your big tub of Crisco. Crisco is made from plant fats, however it often contains trans fats, which are considered the worst type of fat because they increase your levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, and they also decrease your HDL, or good cholesterol.
That’s not really praising lard though. It is NOT better than highly unsaturated omega-3 oils, like olive oil, which are considered the healthiest fats out there. And unless you keep a gallon of it in your freezer, anything that is shelf stable – forget about it. It’s most likely hydrogenated.
WHAT’S GREAT?
The beans. Although traditional recipes call for Honduran red beans which are small like black beans not like kidney beans, they may be hard to find in the U.S. so this recipe uses black beans.
Black beans are rich in antioxidants, which can protect the cells in your body and reduce your risk of conditions like heart disease and cancer.
One cup provides:
- 227 calories
- 1g fat
- 41g carbs (15g fiber)
- 15g protein
- 64% Folate
- 28% Thiamin
- 38% Manganese
- 30% Magnesium
- 20% Iron
WHILE YOU’RE THERE: Scuba Dive the Great Mayan Reef.
The Great Mayan Reef is the second-largest coral reef in the world, and is located off Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and #Honduras.
Roatan Divers is an award winning PADI 5 Star scuba diving operation, with facilities in West End and Sandy Bay in the Bay Islands of Honduras. Roatan, the largest island, has accommodations ranging from budget to luxury, as well as white, sandy beaches, botanical gardens, and butterfly and iguana farms.
Sources: Wikipedia, flavorverse, NPR, curiouscuisiniere, webmd, nutritiondata, PMF IAS, roatandivers, nature.org