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After the countless acts of indulgence over the silly season, it’s time to go back to my usual healthy eating habits. This year however, I have vowed to make more new dishes and share them with you all. I was lucky enough to receive a few new cookbooks for Christmas and coupled with my BBC Good Food subscription and the endless foodie blogs I explore, there is more then enough to keep me occupied. My fave has to be the 80/20 diet book by Teresa Cutter – otherwise known as The Healthy Chef. Teresa is a qualified chef and fitness trainer and her 80/20 philosophy is based on the notion to eat well 80% of the time, and 20% of the time you can enjoy a little indulgence. Her book contains stacks of tasty looking recipes and I can’t wait to really get into them, but for now I have made this heart-warming chilli based on a recipe from Closet Cooking to help me through the freezing temperatures I am facing on returning to London after a few weeks in the Sydney summer. Enjoy!

This makes a massive batch – enough for 4 generous servings. My pan was only just big enough to fit it all in!

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (rinsed)
2 cups water
A few sprays of olive oil
1 brown onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 jalapeno pepper (chopped) – I used diced dried chile jalapenos from the Cool Chile Co.
1 tablespoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water, as required
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 red pepper/capsicum (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 zucchini/courgette (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1  small can corn kernels
1 handful coriander (some chopped, some leaves)

Directions:
1. Simmer the quinoa in the water until the white part separates, about 10 minutes. Then take off the heat and cover while the remaining water is absorbed. 
2. Spray some the oil in a large pan.
3. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, chilli flakes and cumin and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Add the tomatoes, beans, peppers, zucchini, oregano, salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. You may need to add some water to help simmer as my mixture was quite thick.
6. Add the quinoa and corn and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat and stir in the coriander.
8. Plate (or bowl) up and serve with some coriander leaves on top.